Chances
by redwitch3
Summary: The Scoobies are all grown up, Sunnydale has a new slayer and a new watcher hiding many familiar secrets
1. The Beginning of a New Era

Chances  
  
Disclaimer: They are only mine when I'm having REM!  
  
The Beginning Of A New Era  
  
London, England - September 1st 2018  
  
Alexandra Winters stared at the photo of the young girl she was to take into her care. As a dedicated member of the Watchers Council it was Alex's duty to assist in the training of those destined to be champions, the young girls who would eventually be forced to spend their short lives fighting the vampires and the forces of evil because it was their destiny. They were the chosen ones, they were the slayers.  
  
And this slayer was Alex's first. First Slayer. First Chance.  
  
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Sunnydale, California - A few days later  
  
Elizabeth Anne Richards wandered along the corridor of her new school. It was certainly a change from her last school. Firstly her last school was in a city, this place was just a tiny town in California, miles away from anywhere. Secondly, her last school was in England, this was in America. *Well at least I know I'll pass English class* the 5'8", 16 year old, redhead thought to herself as she attempted to ignore the stares she was attracting. *Guess I'm the only new kid. * As she looked around she started to assess the people surrounding her *you're not exactly up on the fashion sense around here either* the words popped into her head completely unexpectedly as she considered her ensemble. It wasn't her personal choice of ensemble either but her friend Sara had forced her to watch Clueless about 50 times before Elizabeth had left and had bought her the 'ultimate' going away present - an exact copy of the first outfit Cher wears in the film.  
  
Apparently fashion had changed a lot in the past 23 years. What a surprise.  
  
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Alex entered the New Sunnydale High School Library and stared in shock. It was a spitting image of the old one. Not that she'd ever seen the old one. According to her C.V. Alex Winters had grown up in London, England and spent the past 10 years working in the British Museum upon completing her degree in World History with Mythological Studies. According to Alex, she had grown up in Sunnydale and left 17 years previously following the death of her family, only to be recruited by the Watcher's Council, who discovered her fighting demons and vampires all over England and had received two recommendations from former watchers. Her C.V. was completely false, as was her hair colour, her name and her current job - as a high school librarian.  
  
Truth be told, everything about Alex was fake. There was only one thing that she knew was true. She was home.  
  
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"So is it Elizabeth or do you have a shorter name?" "Most people call me Bu." She paused and stared at the teacher and thought quickly. *A new country, a new start! * "Beth. Lizbeth." "Well Lizbeth, welcome to Sunnydale and welcome to America. I hope you'll manage to give your very best and hold up your countries good name." "Yes Sir. I will." The tall, dark and handsome English Literature teacher, Mr. Paxton, smiled charmingly at Lizbeth and turned to the rest of the class to continue the lesson. An hour later the bell rang and Mr. Paxton dismissed the class and, as she passed him, he asked Lizbeth to wait a moment. "I just wanted to say hello again and that I received your files from your last school. I understand that you did incredibly well in this subject at home? You enjoyed it?" "Yes Sir." "Do they not talk much over in Britain?" "England Sir. And yeah we do talk. I'm just feelin' a bit out of it at the moment. New school an' everyfing. I love English Lit. really, I do. I can't wait to get started." "Well let me help you get started then. Reading list. You need to get a few books that weren't on the syllabus at your last school. Here they are." Lizbeth stared at the list and heaved a sigh. *First day and me 'omework is read 4 novels. Bloody typical! * "Thanks Sir. Guess I'd better get down the library then." "You do that. I'll see you in class tomorrow. Bye." "Bye." *Right. Thank god that's over. Guess I'd better find the library then. Oh joy! * Lizbeth thought sarcastically as she trudged off towards.somewhere that she didn't have a clue where it was. Lizbeth turned around to find someone to give her directions when she went flying into the ultimate American jock. Tall, well-built, floppy light Brown hair and a movie-star grin that showed a full mouth of perfect, pearly-white teeth. "Hey new girl. I'm Rob. Rob Emerson. What an introduction! I'm really sorry about that. How are you settling in then? Hope you're finding your way around okay. Have you discovered the canteen yet?" "Er, no not yet." Lizbeth smiled nervously at the boy in front of her, surprised at the ease with which he had burst into conversation. "Want me to show you?" "Alright. That'd be great. D'ya wanna help me find the library after?" "Sounds like a date!"  
  
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Rob Emerson looked at the girl by his side. He was amazed. Lizbeth Richards. Beautiful, intelligent, outgoing, from a romantic, foreign country. All of the things he imagined in his perfect woman. And he was aware of them all before they'd finished lunch. He was currently walking her towards the library when he heard his best friends, William Osbourne and Angela Williams. "Hey, Rob!" "Hey Will! Ella. How are you guys? Come over. I want you all to meet someone. Guys, this beauty beside me is the one and only Lizbeth Richards. She transferred all the way from England to grace us with her presence. Lizbeth, this is the gang. Will, my main man and Ella, Angela Williams. Classiest broad in the whole of California. That includes LA" "Broad?! Where are we? The 1920's? Jeez Rob you do talk a lot of crap sometimes." Ella laughed as Rob dramatically introduced each of his friends. "Anyway, you appear to have forgotten the little matter of detention. Ms. Murray is going nuts." "Damn, I completely forgot. I can't keep such a lovely woman waiting now can I?" He joked as he thought of the 59 year old English teacher who was well known for her never-ending patience with each and every one of her student's. "Sorry Lizbeth but I'm afraid I'm unable to accompany you to the library. However, I will most definitely call you about Bronzing it tonight. Okay?" "That's fine. So the library is just around this corner yeah? Cool, I'll see you tonight." *Now that is one fine woman* Rob thought as he headed towards detention and considered what excuse he would amuse Ms. Murray with today.  
  
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Alex glanced up at the door as the girl she had been reading about for the past 3 months entered the library, looking around at the immense collection of books in awe. "Bloody hell" the redhead breathed as she moved slowly up the stairs towards the nearest shelf. The words hit Alex like a bullet. Her first slayer was not only living in the town Alex had grown up in. She was from the same place as Alex's mentor. As her last love. The way the girl ran her index finger along the spines of the books reminded Alex so much of herself at that age that she was almost forced into stillness. And then she heard the words that made her gasp. "This place is so cool. But.now what was that phrase? Oh yeah. it gives me."  
  
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".the wiggins" Lizbeth said to herself before swirling around at the sound of a woman gasping and a pile of books hitting the floor. She ran down to help the woman and when the pile was reassembled back on the desk, Lizbeth smiled at the dark haired woman in front of her, shocked by her youthful appearance and casual attire. *I know they're pretty lax about uniform and stuff out here but are teachers supposed to wear jeans? * Lizbeth thought, certain that the woman in front of her must be a teacher. Her dark brown eyes held much knowledge and even some pain. Not to mention contact lenses. "There y'are. No problem. I was wondering if maybe you could help me find the librarian?" "Well I am the librarian actually" When the woman spoke she sounded incredibly English, only a tiny hint of American could be detected by Lizbeth and even then, considering the mix of Irish that was in there as well. "And you must be Elizabeth." "Actually it's Bu.Lizbeth. I prefer Lizbeth. You're English right? It's 'ard to tell, you got such a variation in your accent. It's nice to 'ear a familiar one. Accent that it is" "Well, Lizbeth, I traveled a lot in my last job. So how can I help you?" "I need books. Not really a huge surprise considering, well, ya know, library! Uhm, basically at the moment it's some stuff for English Lit. Could ya point out the section for us? This library is sooooo huge I swear you could get lost in the stacks and not find your way out alive!" Lizbeth's laughter at her joke died out as she noticed the flinch and the look of intense pain drift into the librarian's eyes, as the woman appeared to slip into a dream world.  
  
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Sunnydale High School, California - May, 2002  
  
Buffy Summers looked at the man before her. It seemed almost poetic when she thought about it. Because he wasn't a man, not really. He was more. He was her one true, forbidden love and as she looked at the wreckage of the old high school around her it finally hit her. She'd ruined everything. Her life hadn't even started until she'd come here. Until she'd met the people she considered her best friends. Now she'd ruined it all. Her so-called 'best friend' had been so hurt by Buffy's actions. So had the man in front of her. As he looked at her with fear, pain and love in his eyes she simply shook her head, murmured, "I love you. All of you" and then that was it. Buffy Summers was gone into the place that she'd spent 6 years attempting to close forever. The Hellmouth. As Willow arrived at the school she heard him shout the words that brought fear to her heart. "To late now slayer. The only way to end me is to end both of us. You've lost either way." As the young Wiccan ran into the room she saw the site she dreaded, Buffy and him falling into the opening in the middle of the old library as Giles words ran through her mind. *Only good can end evil. But to do so evil must end good. * As Buffy fell into the hole the Hellmouth suddenly closed and Willow stared across the room into a pair of the must soulful brown eyes she new. And it hit her. There would be no second or third chances for Elizabeth Anne Summers. She had died too many times. Even a cat eventually runs out of lives. And no matter what she did to Willow, Buffy wasn't a cat. With one last look at the people lying on the ground, in the rubble and the one who stood and stared into her heart. She left. She turned and walked away. *Finally* Angel thought, as the redheaded witch disappeared around the corner. *One of them got away. One of them got out. That's one more person I don't have to loose to this life. * And then he pushed her deep auburn hair and haunting green eyes to the back of his mind. The library still contained some survivors. Some had succeeded in living through another apocalypse. It was Angel's job to help them, always had been, always would be.  
  
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Back in Sunnydale, 2018  
  
"Miss? Miss?! Are you okay?" Alex turned to the young girl and stared at her for a minute, trying to remember where she was. "Sorry Lizbeth. What were you saying?" "I said what do I call you?" Lizbeth said cautiously. This woman was giving her a major case of the Wiggins. She'd just stood completely still for 5 minutes not moving, talking or anything. It was as if she'd just frozen or something. "Oh of course. I'm Alexandra Winters but you can call me Alex. I don't go in for the whole Sir and Miss thing. Way too formal." "Okay well it was nice to meet you Alex. Guess I'd better get these books and get to class." Alex was worried about how she was going to tell this girl about whom she was, what she was meant to do. She was so young, older than Buffy had been when she was called but still, it didn't seem fair, it never seemed fair. As Alex showed her around the library, helping her find the books she needed, she wondered how she would even approach the subject without the teenager thinking that she was a complete nutcase. She decided to just take the bull by the horns and burst into a speech she had been preparing for the past two weeks. "So Lizbeth. Do you have an open mind?" "Yeah, I guess so, why?" the girl replied casually "Would you believe me if I told you that demons were real?"  
  
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Rob had been waiting outside the Bronze for an hour now. He was certain that Lizbeth would show. He just couldn't work out why she would be so late. "Maybe her car broke down." Ella said as she appeared behind him, exiting the club. "Look it is getting dark, you should come in. I'm sure when she turns up she'll find us inside." "What if something's happened to her Ella? She hasn't even been here a week yet, what if she gets mugged or something. I'm gonna go look for her." "Rob, you know what your mom is like. If she finds out you've been outside at night on your own she'll kill you. Then she'll kill me for letting you. Then my dad will literally go mental at some random person just because I've annoyed him because I'd disobeyed him by following you and going out at night on my own. Which is a strict disregard for the one rule that he has ever made in his life!" The look on Ella's face took Rob by surprise. Usually her rants were accompanied with a grin. This one did not have a grin. Instead he saw pure fear in Ella's eyes. "Ella, what?" "I don't know I just have this feeling that something really important is happening tonight and I don't want you out there on your own." "Okay" He began, "Give me another 10 minutes and then I'll come inside." "You've got 5 minutes and then I'm gonna drag you in here kicking and screaming if I have to." With that the irate young woman stormed back into the club, grabbed the nearest vaguely acceptable guy and dragged him onto the dance floor to burn of some of the anger she felt boiling up inside of her. *You've gotta find me first* Rob thought as he ran off towards Lizbeth's street. 5 Minutes later. Rob was nearly there when he heard what sounded like a fight coming from the cemetery. He paused, considering whether or not he should ignore it and continue his journey. *Only to find out that someone's been killed in the papers tomorrow? Damn, Ella's gonna kill me* he thought as he changed direction and ran into the cemetery, only to turn a corner and be faced with the sight of a man exploding into dust, the new school librarian clapping, and a young girl in black leather pants and a leather jacket pulling a stick from the space where there had been a man standing only two seconds before. "Lizbeth?"  
  
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He watched from behind a tree. The new slayer. She looked different from Buffy. Taller and a redhead. But she was still strong and surprisingly imaginative for what he assumed was her first time thanks to the look of shock on her face when the vamp had burst into dust. He couldn't see the watcher's face from here; the long black hair was obviously a disguise. But not because it was done badly. Because he'd know that scent anywhere. He'd inhaled it a million times as he'd held her in his arms. *But I ruined it* Spike thought as he remembered a time from so long ago. *I gave it all up. I lost my true love. I broke her heart to spend one night living a fantasy."  
  
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The Summer's Residence- April, 2002  
  
Willow ran into the front door. "Buffy! Spike! Oh goddess, please help me find him. Spike!" Spike ran down the stairs to see her crying her heart out. "What's wrong Pet? What's happened?" "Spike, it's Xander. Anya's in a state. He's gone. The apartment was trashed, we'd just finished shopping and when we got back." She burst into a fresh flood of tears as Spike thought about the woman lying in the bed upstairs. *Please don't let her come down* He thought as he folded the petite redhead into his arms. "It's alright Pet. Don't worry. We'll find him. I just came here to find Buffy myself. Maybe she's at Giles' place. Let's check out the magic Box on the way." "Spike I can't do this anymore. I just can't. It's too much!" Willow cried as he tightened his arms around her. "Just be strong for me witch." He said as he slowly moved closer to her, eyes fixed on her small, beautiful mouth. "We'll sort it out, I promise. Everything'll work out. Always does don't it? Eventually." With that he made his move. At first she resisted, murmuring something about Buffy and Xander and how everything had gone wrong. Finally she gave into the warmth that flowed through her body. "Spike" she sighed as he pulled her tighter in to his body. Willow went to remove his shirt only to realize that he wasn't wearing one. *That's odd* she thought. Wondering why he was wandering around half naked. Her thought was answered two seconds later when she heard the words that ripped her heart from her very body. "Spike? Come on hurry up. Now that she's gone don't waste time. Come back to bed!" Willow pushed him away from her, the past 6 months flying through her head at a rapid pace. Tara's death, Willow's suicide attempt, Spike's comfort, his caring, his love. Their first kiss, the feeling of joy that had overcome her when he was finally accepted by the rest of the Scoobies as her boyfriend, her lover, her soul mate. She stared at him, as he looked at her deep green eyes, horrified by the change of emotions he saw from love to confusion to shock to realization to hurt, hate and finally the worst of them all, Pain. "Willow." He didn't get a chance. As she ran to the door Buffy reached the bottom of the stairs, covered only by a sheet. She realized what had happened and managed to let a feeble "Wills." escape her lips before she collapsed on the stairs. The witch turned to them. Boyfriend and Best Friend. Then she spat out. "The ultimate cliché. I can't. I. Don't ever come to see me, speak to me or anything again. No apology will ever be enough. Don't waste your time. You could never hurt me as badly as you have. All you will achieve by trying to contact me now is gaining my hatred. Goodbye." With that she exited the Summer's house for the last ever time. Spike turned and stared at the blonde slayer sitting beside him. He couldn't think of what to say to her. So he left. Never to see any of them again. He thought.  
  
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"Lizbeth! What on earth was that?" Lizbeth and Alex spun round to be faced with an out of breath and very confused Rob. Glancing at her watcher in desperation, Alex quickly attempted to cover. "Uhm, Lizbeth was just helping me out with a little light trick I've been working on." Rob stared at the woman as he processed this information. Supposedly a girl who had been in town all of a day was helping a practical stranger with special effects, in a cemetery, in the middle of the night. As If! But now wasn't the time. First he had to get these women inside. Everyone knew that Sunnydale was not a safe place to be at night. Sometimes he wondered why people still lived there. First they walked Ms. Winters home, before continuing on to the Bronze. When they arrived they found Ella and Will standing outside, Will was calmly leaning against the wall while Ella was running franticly towards them. As soon as she reached them she began beating the hell out of Rob. "You evil, selfish, thoughtless b#$%^&*! How could you do that to me? I've been going out of my mind! I thought you were mugged, murdered, I thought you were lying somewhere dead in a ditch and I would find your face on the front page of the Sunnydale news! I hate you!" Rob chuckled slightly, grabbing her wrists in an attempt to stop her assault upon him. "If you hate me then why would you care if I was lying in a ditch?" Ella glared at him, before spitting out, "shut up smart-arse." She then promptly turned around and, in a friendly tone miles away from her outburst, said "Hey Lizbeth, glad you could make it. Wanna go find some actual men and dance." With that she grabbed the confused girl's arm and, glaring once more at her best friend, she stormed off in search of some non-existent, 'real men'. Will grinned at Rob as he wandered over. "Don't say a word." Rob warned him. "Wasn't gonna." Will smirked as he followed his friend inside.  
  
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Lizbeth collapsed on her new bed. What a night. Now that she was finally sat on her own in her quiet, box-filled room she ran through the days events in her head. First day at a new school was a weird day for any teenager, without adding the fact that she was in a strange country, dealing with some major grief and now she suddenly learned that she had a destiny to deal with as well. At first she hadn't believed Miss Winters, or Alex as she was instructed to call her. She wasn't rude or anything. She'd simply said, "I'm really sorry Miss but I fink you've definitely got the wrong girl." Of course, being the open-minded, fair girl that she was Lizbeth Richards had agreed to give the strange woman a chance to prove her case. Only one chance mind, but it seemed that one chance was all she needed. So now Lizbeth was the slayer. Slayer. The Slayer. Lizbeth the Slayer, no, Lizbeth the Vampire Slayer. For some reason it sounded strangely correct, just rolling off of her tongue. It felt right. And on top of all this, she was attempting to settle in at Sunnydale High. Trying to make friends. Rob, Will and Ella all seemed great. But now she had one final problem, Rob. She knew that he'd seen her dust that vamp. And the look on his face made it obvious that he didn't believe in her badly planned cover story. She got the feeling that by the morning Will and Ella would also know about her weird choice of places to spend her evenings, i.e. graveyards. How was she supposed to keep her identity a secret in such a small town like this, with Rob Emerson following her around? * Bugger it. Just get some sleep woman, worry about Rob tomorrow. * And with that thought, she drifted off into an extremely dream filled sleep. *  
  
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On the other side of town a certain watcher was getting even less sleep than her slayer. Alex wandered slowly around the cemetery that she and her charge had visited a few hours earlier. Though she had not mentioned it to Lizbeth, Alex new that they had left one vampire unharmed earlier. As she reached the mausoleum she paused, feeling deep inside of her the gut instinct that told her this was it. However, it was also mixed with a feeling of fear, and anger, and deep sadness and regret. Pushing these feelings deep down inside, she grasped her stake and, counting to three, kicked open the door. And as she entered she saw him sat there, watching, waiting, for her. Just from looking at his face, everything came rushing back to her.  
  
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	2. Confusion and Disappointment

Disclaimer: They are only mine when I'm having REM!  
  
Confusion and Disappointment  
  
Sunnydale, 2002  
  
January  
  
Willow smiled as Tara crossed the street, thinking how life couldn't be more perfect.  
  
Suddenly her lover stopped and turned, as Willow gazed deep into her eyes, Tara gave her that smile,  
  
the smile that told her how truly loved she was. Tara whispered, "I love you."  
  
Then Willow saw something moving out of the corner of her eyes. She screamed as the truck bore  
  
down on her heart, her soul, and her world.  
  
And Tara was gone.  
  
February  
  
Spike burst through the door, realizing in shock that Wills had never bothered with an uninviting spell  
  
to bar him from their dorm. He gave a small smile before returning to the task at hand.  
  
"Red, The slayer's goin' mad wonderin' where." He stopped as the scent of blood hit him. And as he  
  
quickly followed it into the bathroom he blanched. "Oh Red, what the fuck have you done." He  
  
whispered, staring at the pale body of the 21 year old before him, surrounded in a pool of her own  
  
blood, muttering to herself.  
  
Suddenly he put his vampiric speed to good use, bandaging her wrists with thematerial that was  
  
previously part of his t-shirt, and in the space of 10 minutes he had burst through the door of the ER,  
  
screaming hoarsely for help.  
  
March  
  
Willow smiled gently at Spike as he stood before the front door of the Rosenberg residence. "Spike?"  
  
He looked at her with interest, wondering what she would ask him.  
  
Since her discharge from the hospital three weeks before, he had seen her every night, turning up at  
  
her doorstep and yelling abuse until she agreed to go have coffee, or go to the cinema.  
  
At first he knew that she only agreed to prevent him from waking or upsetting the neighbours. But  
  
within a week she began to relax and talk to him, about everything. From Tara to the incident on  
  
Valentine's Day, and even her stress at being told not to return to school until the following semester.  
  
But not once had she ever asked him a question. "Would you like to come in?" His face widened  
  
considerably at this impromptu display of trust. As he followed her in, he took his first look around  
  
the Rosenberg house, before his eyes rested upon the woman in front of him. As he watched her  
  
move into the kitchen and busy herself with making tea, his thoughts returned to the dreams that  
  
had been plaguing him for the past few days.  
  
Dreams that betrayed his subconscious and told him exactly what he would like to do to the beautiful  
  
redhead stood in front of him. But she was still grieving, so his plans would be put on hold for a while,  
  
just a few decades or so, until she was gone and he couldn't embarrass himself. 15 minutes later, as  
  
they were snuggled on the couch talking, Willow made it clear that she didn't agree with that plan.  
  
One week later  
  
After a week of sneaking around, they had decided to tell the others. They all had pretty much the  
  
reactions expected of them; Giles cleaned his glasses, a lot. Xander stalked out of the room muttering  
  
something about bloody vampires tricking his best friends into falling for them. Anya asked if the sex  
  
was good and taking Willow's sudden blush as a positive reaction, followed Xander. Buffy yelled a lot  
  
before storming out to patrol. Within 3 days they had all come around to the idea. Kinda.  
  
April  
  
As Willow fled the Summers' house, Spike refused to look at Buffy. He just left. He hadn't bothered  
  
with clothing. He walked slowly home, jumped into the Desoto and left. Refusing to return, ever.  
  
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Sunnydale, 2018  
  
Reeling as the events of early 2002 fled back to him, Spike watched her beautiful face. But he waited  
  
for her to speak, refusing to push her, still holding fast to the promise he'd made, to never fall again.  
  
No woman should be able to make him feel guilty, he was a bloody vampire!  
  
As he waited, Spike stared at the woman before him. Woman was definitely the word for it. Although  
  
the last time he had seen her she had been anything but a girl, which was how he remembered her.  
  
An innocent young woman who had needed his protection.  
  
But that Willow was gone; and apparently more than just physically so, because the woman before  
  
him showed no signs of the trusting, caring beauty that he had loved. This woman had hard, false  
  
eyes and a grim look on her pale face. After five more minutes of staring, deep into her eyes,  
  
searching for some sign that she held even a fragment of the love they had once shared, she spoke,  
  
her words sounding cold and icy.  
  
"Stay away from me, stay away from my slayer and maybe I won't kill you."  
  
He whispered, dolefully, "You just have Red, you just have."  
  
As, once again, she walked away from him.  
  
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As Lizbeth slowly walked up the steps into school, her stormy blue eyes took in everything around  
  
her. But she still didn't see them coming until she was surrounded, with no escape.  
  
"Hi Lizbeth", they all chorused from behind her.  
  
"Hi guys." She casually replied, turning slowly to greet them.  
  
"So what classes have you got today?" Ella asked excitedly.  
  
"Erm." Lizbeth was taken aback slightly by the eagerness in the petite blonde's voice. "Well first I've  
  
got History, then double English and after lunch, uhm, Math's and P.E."  
  
"Cool, I'm in History and P.E. at the same time, and Will and Rob have Math's after lunch so you've  
  
only got English on your own. I'm assuming you should be quite good at that!"  
  
"We live in hope." Lizbeth replied.  
  
Will smiled at her statement while Rob threw his arms around her saying wisely, "that we do my  
  
young padowan, that we do."  
  
History flew by, as Lizbeth tried desperately to pay attention while Ella chattered away beside her, the  
  
teacher, Mr. Quinn, was apparently oblivious to this. Next thing she new, it was time for English.  
  
Lizbeth had been looking forward to seeing Mr. Paxton again all morning. He seemed kind, reasonable  
  
and understanding, in other words, unlike any teacher she'd ever had before. As she walked into class  
  
she glanced around, realizing that she was the first to enter she took a seat centre front, intent on  
  
paying close attention in this class as she felt a need to impress her new teacher.  
  
"Mind if I take this seat?" A deep voice asked from behind her before its owner collapsed into the  
  
chair next to her.  
  
"No, go for it." She replied, despite the obvious fact that he hadn't waited for an answer. She felt his  
  
eyes on her and as she turned to ask him what he was staring at, Lizbeth was met with the most  
  
beautiful pair of Grey eyes, slightly floppy White Blonde hair and a smirk worthy of any wolf.  
  
Suddenly she realized that she had been staring at the boy for much longer than is acceptable and he  
  
leaned over to murmur in her ear.  
  
"Like what you see?" Lizbeth was suddenly dragged back to reality by the sound of Mr. Paxton's,  
  
very amused, voice.  
  
"Well when Miss. Richards and Mr. Malloy are quite done flirting, perhaps we  
  
could begin?"  
  
The rest of the class erupted into giggles and whispers, the boy, Malloy, simply leaned  
  
back in his chair looking quite satisfied with himself and Lizbeth hid behind her hair as her face had  
  
decided to match its deep red colour.  
  
"Thank you. Now, the first novel of the semester will be  
  
Dracula. We are going to be looking at." And so went the lesson. Finally, as the lunch bell rang, all  
  
the students jumped out of their seats and rushed to the door as Mr. Paxton yelled out after them, "I  
  
expect a summary of the first two chapters on my desk at the beginning of the next lesson!"  
  
Lizbeth tried to sneak out quietly, but Mr. Paxton just caught her.  
  
"Miss. Richards, if I could please have a quick word." Lizbeth slowly walked towards the man, not  
  
daring to look at his face. She could still feel the embarrassment from the beginning of class. "Firstly I  
  
would like to apologize for embarrassing you earlier, it was not my intention and I'm very sorry."  
  
When the redhead finally looked up at him, he could see the shock on her face. * You poor thing * he  
  
thought * they must have treated you atrociously for you to be that shocked by a simple apology. *  
  
"Secondly, I don't want you to think that I am not doing my job. I am well aware that you studied  
  
this novel last year. Unfortunately I cannot change the whole classes schedule for one student. Do  
  
you understand?" he spoke calmly and comfortingly.  
  
"Yes sir, I under." "However. It is completely pointless you doing exactly the same work  
  
this year as last year so make sure that by the next lesson you have decided which novel you are  
  
going to study. Just make sure it's pre-20th century."  
  
Lizbeth looked up at him in wonder before breaking out into a huge smile. "Cheers sir! Thank you so  
  
much. This is gonna be wicked!" And with that, she sped out of the classroom.  
  
Neil Paxton watched as she ran steaming into the hall, but all he could remember was that smile. *  
  
How am I supposed to do what I have to do when she smiles like that over something as simple as a  
  
novel? This is gonna be impossible. *  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
As Lizbeth entered the library she heard the heart wrenching sobs coming from the office. She slowly  
  
walked up to the door and knocked lightly before entering.  
  
"Ms. Winters? Are you okay?" Willow quickly gulped back the tears that had so unexpectedly  
  
overcome her, before turning to her charge.  
  
"Lizbeth! Hi. I'm fine thanks. What can I do for you? I was under the impression that we wouldn't be  
  
meeting until after school." Lizbeth paused for a moment, contemplating whether or not to question  
  
the woman further on what had her so distraught. Finally she came to the conclusion that it was none  
  
of her business and she had no right to invade her watcher's privacy.  
  
"I need to find a novel to study for English. Something pre-20th century. I figured that you'd be able  
  
to help me find something good." Willow looked carefully at the girl in front of her. They'd only met  
  
the day before and already she was being asked for advice. On something non- hellmouthy as well!  
  
"Well of course I'll help you find something. Was there anything in particular you were interested in?  
  
A certain writer or genre?"  
  
"Just something non-demony. I have this feeling that I'm gonna want a break from vampires and  
  
monsters at some point during each day! I'm also gonna want a happy ending."  
  
"I know exactly what you need."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
As Lizbeth wandered towards the canteen she saw Mr. Paxton exiting the teachers' lounge. She ran  
  
over to him excitedly.  
  
"Mr. Paxton, I found a book and just wanted to run it past ya. You know, check that it's alright to  
  
study."  
  
Neil smiled at the enthusiastic young student standing before him. "Well what have you found?  
  
Though really anything that's in the library would probably be fine."  
  
"It's Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen."  
  
"Well that's certainly different from Dracula but it shouldn't be a problem. It's not on the syllabus this  
  
year or next so I don't see any issues. But are you sure that's the one you want to study? It's not at  
  
all similar to Dracula. There is very little action and it is as far from a horror as you could get."  
  
"I definitely wanna do this one. I fink I've 'ad enough of 'orror."  
  
Neil studied the girl's face, curious. * She knows something. But what? I don't know how I'm gonna  
  
do this but I need to find out what it is. * As he came out of his thoughts he realized that he had  
  
been stood in the middle of the hall just staring at the girl. * Smooth Neil, real smooth. You've gotta  
  
watch it or she'll realize that something's up. *  
  
"Well if you're sure that's the one then I'll set you the same  
  
task as the rest of the class. Summary of the first two chapters."  
  
"Sure fing sir. Not a prob."  
  
As he watched her move happily towards the canteen, he called out, "and make sure it's good. I  
  
expect that you could do really well if you put your mind to it. I'm sure you'll be very challenging." He  
  
added quietly to himself.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Rob watched as she entered the canteen, a bright smile gracing her face. Ella was far too busy  
  
chattering away about the hideous Science test she had just taken to notice that Rob was definitely  
  
no longer at their table. Except in body of course.  
  
As Will listened half-heartedly to his friend's ramblings he followed Rob's line of sight to find out what  
  
had his best friend so entranced. When he discovered who had Rob acting like a total space cadet he  
  
grinned slightly. So Rob had a crush on the new girl. This should be interesting. * Wonder how long  
  
it'll take for Ella to do her nut. I s'pose I should really intervene, but this is gonna be far too much  
  
fun. *  
  
When Ella noticed Lizbeth approaching their table she jumped out of her chair, nearly spilling the  
  
three cokes that were on it all over her friends. "Lizbeth! How was it? Anything fun happen? Not that  
  
anything fun ever happens in English but it's like you said earlier, we live in hope right?"  
  
Lizbeth giggled at her new friend's outburst. "That's right Ella. Now what drugs are you on and where  
  
can I find some?"  
  
Ella grinned at that comment, as if she had heard it many times before. "Well actually I got them just  
  
over there." She replied, pointing towards the food line. "They're called E numbers, more commonly  
  
known as Skittles."  
  
"Ah, so we've got a sweet addict eh? Shoulda guessed, no one can be that bloody 'yper just cos it's  
  
lunchtime!"  
  
"Well that's one of the joys of hanging with Ella here," Will explained jovially, "just pump her full of  
  
candy and voila, our very own mini- cheerleader!"  
  
"Okay you take that back William Osborne! How dare you compare me to the likes of Amber  
  
Reynolds!"  
  
"Hey calm down El, I'm sure you'd look great in a cheerleading uniform."  
  
"Yeah, just like you'd look fabulous in the wrestling kit. You know, with the tights."  
  
"Well of course."  
  
Rob smiled quietly as he watched his friends teasingly insult each other. He whispered to Lizbeth, who  
  
looked quite bemused at the scene before her, "Don't worry, they do this all the time. It's part of why  
  
they're so great to hang around with. Will doesn't take anything seriously and Ella takes almost  
  
everything seriously. Fortunately she knows it and manages to joke about it. I think she's accepted it  
  
as her one flaw."  
  
"Well I just 'ope they don't pull me into it. Will's too nice to insult an' Ella's way too scary!" Lizbeth  
  
joked as she leaned closer to ensure that the others couldn't hear them.  
  
Rob's heart practically leapt out of his chest as he felt her arm graze his. * Oh god, why do you  
  
torture me like this. Now I'm gonna have to ask her out, or else I'll end up doing something highly  
  
inappropriate to this woman in the middle of the canteen! * "Uhm, Lizbeth." He whispered nervously.  
  
Smiling Lizbeth turned to look into his eyes, curious as to what had caused such a sudden seriousness  
  
to take hold of his voice. "What?"  
  
"I was just wondering, uhm, well, er, I thought, that maybe we, what I mean to say is, well, *come  
  
on man, spit it out. Since when were you such a geek when it comes to girls. *  
  
"Wouldyougooutwithme?"  
  
"What? I'm sorry Rob I didn' catch that."  
  
"Would, would you, uhm go, go out with me, er, on a date type thing." *on a date type thing. Oh  
  
great, well-done Rob. That was real smooth. *  
  
Lizbeth looked at Rob in shock. *Crap* "Uhm, Rob you seem like a really great guy, but."  
  
*Here it comes * Rob thought ".  
  
"I just don't know ya very well yet."  
  
*Strike 1 *  
  
".And I'm still tryin' to get used to everyfing 'ere."  
  
*Strike 2 *  
  
"I'm not really sure that I should be datin' anyone yet."  
  
*Strike 3 *  
  
".Plus, I fink you and I could be really great friends, I wouldn't wanna risk spoilin' that."  
  
*And I'm outta here *  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
*So am I. *  
  
"It's fine, really. Look it was just an idea Lizbeth. Don't even worry about it. It's really not a problem."  
  
*Why am I reassuring her when I'm the one that's just been majorly rejected? Because she's  
  
absolutely stunning that's why. *  
  
"How about we all go for a walk outside? Guys? Come on, what do ya think?" Ella asked, looking  
  
suspiciously at Rob and Lizbeth, who were now looking anywhere but at each other.  
  
"Sure Ella, a walk sounds great. Lets go." Rob replied. *We'll just pretend it never happened, not a  
  
problem. It's fine. *  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 


	3. Discoveries

Disclaimer: They're only mine when I'm having REM  
  
Discoveries  
  
Will looked over at Rob as they walked towards Ella's house. He knew that something had happened  
  
between his friend and Lizbeth earlier in the canteen. Rob had hardly said a thing since then, which was  
  
considered far from normal by everyone who even vaguely knew the athletic young man. The question  
  
was, what was so wrong?  
  
Finally the quiet musician broached the subject.  
  
"What's up man? You've hardly said a thing all afternoon. It's starting to give me the Wiggins."  
  
Rob glanced at his childhood friend, wondering whether or not he should share his concerns with him.  
  
On one hand, he had never kept anything from Will. None of them had needed to keep secrets before.  
  
Hell, the three of them were so close that Ella would even let them know when her period started so that  
  
the boys knew not to take the piss too much. But for the first time ever Rob didn't feel comfortable with  
  
telling Will everything. He would tell him about asking Lizbeth out and her rejection of him, chances were  
  
he wouldn't be able to keep that a secret long, but as for the other concerns he was having – mostly  
  
regarding what he had witnessed in the cemetery the previous evening – well that wasn't really his  
  
secret to tell. He had to speak with Lizbeth about it before he even thought about telling the others. He  
  
just didn't know how to approach the subject with her. He had briefly considered speaking about it with  
  
her in the canteen but then she had been leaning so close to him and he seemed to have lost all thought  
  
processes so he decided to ask her out instead.  
  
"Rob? Rob? Earth to Mr. Emerson. Houston calling."  
  
Rob realized that he had spaced out yet again.  
  
"I'm sorry Will. I was thinking about Lizbeth."  
  
"What about Lizbeth?" Will asked cautiously, not wanting to embarrass Rob by letting him know that his  
  
feelings for the young woman were more than obvious.  
  
"Well... I asked her out." Rob paused at that, waiting for Will's reaction to the statement before  
  
continuing.  
  
"And I'm assuming that the reason I'm only hearing about this now is that she didn't give a positive  
  
response?"  
  
"She didn't wanna risk our burgeoning friendship." He replied sarcastically  
  
"Ah. And how do you feel about that?"  
  
"I dunno. I s'pose that to be fair we don't really know each other that well yet anyway. She's just so  
  
gorgeous. And she seems really intelligent and funny and cool. Hating to use the cliché but I've never  
  
met anyone like her before."  
  
Will thought about this. Lizbeth really seemed to be the ultimate woman if you believed Rob's intense  
  
monologue. But maybe he could use his friend's description to his advantage. Here he had one friend  
  
who had just been turned down by some girl he'd met only two days before, and they were walking  
  
towards his other friend who blatantly had an enormous crush on the previous friend. Maybe he could  
  
have everyone happy by the end of the day.  
  
"Well I wouldn't say you've never met anyone like that. I mean look at Ella. She's easily more intelligent  
  
than both of us two put together. Plus she's been the coolest girl either of us has known since the day  
  
we met her. Not to mention the fact that she has the both of us in stitches pretty much twenty-four  
  
seven."  
  
Rob glanced at Will, a slightly confused expression on his face. "Well I s'pose. But Lizbeth is all of that  
  
and gorgeous as well. She looks exactly like what a woman should look like."  
  
Will nearly laughed at that. So that was it? He just didn't see that Ella was the most beautiful woman in  
  
the whole school. God his friend could be blind when he wanted.  
  
"Rob, I have a mission for you. When we get to Ella's house I want you to look at her..."  
  
"It'd be a bit difficult to not look at her, I mean she'll be there and everything."  
  
"No what I mean is, I want you to really look at her. See her. Do you have any idea why she has a new  
  
boyfriend practically every month?"  
  
"Because she's fickle, because she can't settle down, I dunno."  
  
"Rob what I mean is, why does every guy in school, including Chris 'I'm so perfect' Malloy, seem to be  
  
happy to take a ticket and stand in line in the hope that they'll be next to date her? Especially  
  
considering none of them last more than a few weeks? What is so special about her that everyone  
  
seems to want her?"  
  
"How should I know?"  
  
"Well when we get there why don't you have a look, see if you can't work it out?"  
  
"Sure man, whatever."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
Willow wandered around slowly. Even when they had last been together, none of the Scoobies had  
  
bothered to visit the mansion for years. For Xander, there was no point, Giles seemed to have  
  
conveniently forgotten all of their old 'haunts' and of course for Buffy it had been 'too hard'. Alex smirked  
  
at this. The powerful, strong slayer, who could quite happily steal her best friend's boyfriend, couldn't  
  
bring herself to return to the place her ex had once frequented. Bloody hypocrite.  
  
She began to wander back downstairs, the whole time remembering parts of her previous life. Faces  
  
flashed inside her head, of the people she'd loved and the ones that she'd feared. Buffy, Riley, Faith,  
  
Xander, Anya, Cordelia, The Mayor, Glory, Spike and finally the one she had missed for the longest,  
  
Angel.  
  
Suddenly she heard a rustle from the curtains. Whipping around she called out "Who's there?". When  
  
she received no reply she quickly buttoned her long, leather duster, an item she hadn't worn for years,  
  
and returned to the harsh wind outside, leaving all of her memories behind. For now.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
He had felt someone enter the building and decided to stay hidden rather than risk the exchange he was  
  
sure would come. He knew the scent well, but it was weaker, and slightly different. It had acquired a  
  
feminine tinge. Vanilla and daisies * must have a new girlfriend * the vampire thought as he moved  
  
slowly towards the main room. Suddenly he heard footsteps entering the room. He quickly hid behind  
  
the curtains and stood stock still.  
  
"Who's there?"  
  
That wasn't Spike. It was a woman, a very familiar sounding woman. But then why was she wearing  
  
Spike's Duster, he could see now, the long raven hair, slight frame, hyper aware look on her face. He  
  
remembered that look. He hadn't seen it for years, and the last time he had seen it was upon the face of  
  
a young redhead. Who had smelled like Vanilla and Daisies.  
  
As the woman cautiously left the building Angel let out a needless sigh and two words. "She's back."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
Lizbeth was so glad she'd met Ella. Of the few friends she had back home, all of them had been 'girly'  
  
girls. Lizbeth was definitely not a 'girly' girl. Her parents had pretty much forced her to hang out with her  
  
friends. Every night she had said she'd rather stay home and read a book or watch some t.v. but her  
  
parents were having none of that.  
  
"Go out." They'd say. "Enjoy yourself. Spend some time with the girls."  
  
She had hated 'spending time with the girls' so naturally when Ella had invited her over tonight she had  
  
been slightly wary. But then she hadn't expected to be drinking vodka and coke (disguised in a coke  
  
bottle), listening to punk rock and jumping around like a maniac whilst playing an air guitar. It was the  
  
most fun she had ever had in her whole life. And the night was still young.  
  
"Okay Lizbeth, now we have to be girly for a minute."  
  
The slayer looked up at her new friend in dread. Had she tricked her? Lulled her into a false sense of  
  
security only to pounce with teen mags and boy talk? Was this when the face masks would appear, or  
  
worse, the nail polish?!  
  
"What should I wear tonight?"  
  
* Phew. Clothing. I can cope with that. *  
  
"Well," the redhead began "I'm going for 'ipsters and an 'alter neck but I reckon you should try somefing  
  
a bit differen'."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
Lizbeth began rifling through Ella's cupboard, throwing outfit after outfit behind her with varying sounds  
  
of disapproval. "Liiiiiiiiiiiike...this!" She yelled triumphantly as she produced a sequined, spaghetti strap,  
  
light purple top and a ridiculously short satin skirt, slightly darker purple with a slit up one side.  
  
Ella gaped for a moment before saying, in a shocked tone "I can't wear that! I'm a pretty outgoing girl but  
  
that skirt! It's way too short!"  
  
"Why's it in your wardrobe then?" Lizbeth replied teasingly.  
  
"It used to be my mom's. She gave me a load of her stuff a while ago when she had this whole 'i'm too  
  
old to dress like a teenager, I need to start wearing mom clothes' phase. I don't actually wear that stuff!"  
  
"Wow" Lizbeth exclaimed, "Your mom must've been well nuts when she was younger."  
  
"I doubt it. She's way too organized and sensible. I reckon she probably wore those things because her  
  
evil, far too fashionable friends made her. Hint hint!"  
  
"Well I don't care why your mom wore 'em. Fact is you 'ave to wear this tonight. You'll look wicked."  
  
"Can't I just wear jeans and a top?" Ella pleaded, although secretly she was slightly excited about  
  
wearing something so risqué. Maybe this outfit would finally make Rob notice her!  
  
"Nope." Lizbeth replied determinedly. "This is the one."  
  
"Fine." Ella replied.  
  
Half an hour later, just as the girls were ready, the doorbell rang.  
  
"Mom! Can you get that please?" Ella yelled as she put her shoes on.  
  
The girls heard the door open and close, followed by the sound of voices.  
  
"It's Rob and Will" Ella's mum shouted back.  
  
"Be right there!"  
  
As the boys saw Ella descend the stairs their jaws dropped.  
  
* Oh my god * Rob thought * How short is that skirt?! *  
  
Will was the first to speak. "Hey Ella, new look definitely working for ya."  
  
"What new look?" Ella's mom asked as she came in from the kitchen, holding her car keys, which  
  
promptly hit the floor as she looked at what her daughter was wearing. "You are so not going out  
  
dressed like that Ella! And where did you get that outfit? It's so... "  
  
"Sexy?" Rob murmured  
  
"Gorgeous?" Will commented  
  
"Her?" Lizbeth added as she arrived downstairs.  
  
"Slutty!" Her mother finished.  
  
Ella smirked knowingly at her mother. "Well really mom, that's no way to talk about your outfit."  
  
"I wasn't talking about my outfit, I was talking about your outfit and don't be so facetious!"  
  
"I'm not being facetious. This is one of the outfits you gave me a few months back, if you don't like it,  
  
you shouldn't have put it in my wardrobe!"  
  
Ella's mom paused for a moment. "Fine." She conceded, "just get in the car, I haven't got all night to  
  
drive you guys around."  
  
"Thanks Mrs. Williams." They all yelled as they piled into the car to go to the Bronze.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
Once they had all arrived at the club, having finally recovered from the sight of Ella's 'new look' as the  
  
gang had now dubbed it, Rob pulled Lizbeth to the side.  
  
"Can we talk please?" He began.  
  
"Sure Rob, what's up?"  
  
* Okay here goes. Just blurt it out otherwise you'll never ask her. *  
  
"What were you doing in the graveyard last night? And don't tell me you were practicing special effects  
  
because that was the worst excuse I have ever heard."  
  
*Shit!! How am I s'posed to handle this? People aren't s'posed to ask me stuff like that. But if a lie he'll  
  
know, I'm crap at lying. But then, if I tell him the truth he'll think I'm nuts and everyone in school  
  
will avoid me and Ella won't speak to me. But if they're such great friends they'll understand. won't they?  
  
Yeah right, like you'd understand if one of them came up and said "hey I'm an alien." Oh shit, he's  
  
staring at me, I have to say something soon.*  
  
"Oh fuck it! I'm the slayer, the one girl in all the world chosen to fight the vampires an' demons an' stuff.  
  
Vampires are real, I kill 'em, no I'm not insane, deal with it or leave me alone!" With that she walked off.  
  
"Right." Was all he could say before running off to his friends.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
Angel watched as the girl ran off. So this was the new slayer? She was mouthy that was for sure. And  
  
that was gonna get her into trouble. She couldn't just go around blurting out her calling to anyone and  
  
everyone that she met. Hadn't her watcher mentioned that little thing called secrecy? As she stormed  
  
out of the Bronze he followed her. When he got outside he saw her again, talking to the woman from the  
  
mansion, the woman he had thought he would never see again. They were talking, arguing actually,  
  
about secrets and using them to attract dumb jocks, and how it wasn't like that and maybe if the woman  
  
had ever had friends she might understand. It was at this point that the woman started crying. The  
  
young girl looked very uncomfortable and Angel realized that she had no idea how to handle the  
  
situation.  
  
*Oh well, so much for helping the slayer from the shadows! * Angel thought as he hurried over and  
  
pushed straight passed the young girl to take the older woman in his arms.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
Willow looked up in shock as she felt a pair of strong arms encircle her. She had just had her first ever  
  
argument with Lizbeth. Willow knew that she must have sounded harsh, forbidding the teenager to  
  
spend anymore time with her friends if she couldn't keep her mouth shut, accusing her of using her  
  
calling as a way to attract men. But then Lizbeth had hit back by accusing her of having never had any  
  
friends. It wasn't the girls fault. Lizbeth had no idea of what sort of life Willow had had before. Hell  
  
Lizbeth didn't even know her watcher's real name, but it still hurt. It hurt far more than Willow had  
  
thought possible. It was just too much, First returning to Sunnydale, seeing Spike, the Mansion and now  
  
a reminder of how little her 'friends' had cared for her.  
  
And now, with tears streaking down her face, he was there. Angel. As she looked into his eyes she  
  
suddenly felt like she was 16 again, and she was so scared.  
  
As a fresh load of tears burst from her eyes, she grabbed hold of the man before her and just let them  
  
all out, hiccupping and saying his name, as if she couldn't believe he was really there.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
Lizbeth looked on at the sight before her in confusion. She hated herself. She hadn't meant to upset  
  
Alex, but she was so angry after the way Rob had approached her and demanded to know what was  
  
going on. And then she had let all of the anger and frustration she had been feeling out on Alex. She  
  
wasn't even sure what she had said. But suddenly her watcher had collapsed right in front of her, in  
  
floods of tears, and next thing she knew some strange man had appeared and now her watcher was  
  
clinging on to him like a lifeline.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
The girl whispered quietly, not wanting to interrupt the scene before her but needing desperately to put  
  
things right.  
  
"It's...okay." She heard a small voice whimper from somewhere inside the man's coat. "It's not your  
  
fault, you just hit a nerve is all." By this point Alex had fully emerged and was facing the slayer. She had  
  
stopped crying but her tearstained face still looked incredibly sad.  
  
"So, "Lizbeth began, trying to think of a way to change the subject before her watcher started off again.  
  
"How do you know Alex?" she asked the man.  
  
He looked at her with a confused expression, turned to Alex and Lizbeth noted a small look pass  
  
between them before he replied.  
  
"uhm, well...Alex...and I used to know each other. I used to date an old... acquaintance... of hers."  
  
"This is Angel, Lizbeth. He's a vary rare kind of guy, The only one of his type in the world. A vampire  
  
with a soul."  
  
Lizbeth's eyes nearly fell out of her head at this. Of course during the conversation she'd had with Alex  
  
the evening before the watcher had mentioned that there was a vampire that had once been ensouled  
  
by Gypsies, but when Lizbeth had asked to know more, Alex had simply changed the subject, insisting  
  
that this vampire hadn't been seen in decades and probably would never be seen again. Not during this  
  
generation at least. And not by Lizbeth.  
  
*Angel, the vampire with a soul. Huh. Pretty cute for a vampire. No, not bad at all. Not that I'm was  
  
interested, I mean come on, a slayer and a vampire dating, how stupid would that be?!*  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
Inside the bronze Rob had just finished telling Will and Ella about his conversation with Lizbeth.  
  
"And you just let her leave? On her own? You idiot!" Ella yelled  
  
"What, you believe her?" Rob asked incredulously  
  
"Come on Rob, obviously, I mean that does explain pretty much every freaky thing that's ever happened  
  
here. And may I remind you that the list of freaky things is not short."  
  
"Ella's got a point man." Will added. "It does make sense. And slayer or not, Lizbeth is just a girl, she's  
  
new to Sunnydale and she may be able to fight off demons or whatever but that's not gonna help her if  
  
she gets lost."  
  
"Okay fine, we'll go find her. But no splitting up. Even if it is quicker. If what Lizbeth said is true, which  
  
you both insist it is, then I reckon were better off sticking together."  
  
"Okay then." Ella said, "Let's go!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~ 


	4. Memories An Interlude to Discoveries

Disclaimer: They're only mine when I'm having REM  
  
Interlude to Chances Part 3 - Discoveries  
  
Memories  
  
I'm so tired of being here.  
  
Suppressed by all my, childish fear.  
  
And if you have to leave.  
  
I wish that you would just leave.  
  
Cos your presence still lingers here.  
  
And you wont leave me alone.  
  
As Willow wandered slowly around the mansion she felt her heart breaking once more. She  
  
remembered all of the things that had happened here. All the horrors she'd seen. But nothing in her  
  
memory hurt as much as the pain he'd caused her. After they'd finally told the others about their  
  
relationship, Spike had brought her here. He'd told her so many things that night, how he wished that he  
  
could take away all of the pain she'd been put through, how he loved her, How he wanted to spend his  
  
eternity making her happy.  
  
These wounds wont seem to heal.  
  
And this pain is just too real.  
  
There's just too much that time cannot erase.  
  
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears.  
  
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears.  
  
And I held your hand through all of these years.  
  
And you still have.  
  
All of me.  
  
She remembered the promises he'd made that night. He would never hurt her. He would never leave  
  
her. He wanted to become the man she saw he could be and he would start by taking this mansion and  
  
turning it into a palace for her. A place where they could live a real, normal life.  
  
"Is there such a thing?" she'd joked.  
  
He'd looked at her seriously, and he'd said, "There will be. And you will have it. If anyone in this world  
  
deserves happiness it's you Willow. You have stolen my heart and I never want it back, because I know  
  
that it's safe in your care. I can't marry you. But I can love you. And I mean to, forever."  
  
You used to captivate me. By your resonating light.  
  
Now I'm bound by the life you left behind.  
  
Your face it haunts.  
  
My once pleasant dreams.  
  
Your voice it chased away.  
  
All the sanity in me.  
  
He had captivated her. He was the absolute opposite of everyone she'd ever loved. He excited her,  
  
surprised her and made her feel scared and safe at the exact same time. He had been so loving and  
  
calm when he was with her. But then in a moment he would change and become the most passionate  
  
lover she'd ever had. Every night he'd hold her in his arms so tightly, as if he were scared that if he let  
  
her go, she'd never come back.  
  
Willow felt the tears welling behind her eyes at these memories. She couldn't seem to help falling in love  
  
with people who would then leave her. And when she'd tried to love someone after Spike, she had fled,  
  
in anticipation of being abandoned again.  
  
These wounds wont seem to heal.  
  
And this pain is just too real.  
  
There's just too much that time cannot erase.  
  
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears.  
  
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears.  
  
And I held your hand through all of these years.  
  
And you still have.  
  
All of me.  
  
"DAMMIT!" she yelled, punching a hole in the window of the master bedroom. Refusing to allow herself  
  
to cry she tried to pull her thoughts away from the vampire that had taken her ability to love, to truly give  
  
herself over to someone.  
  
I've tried so hard to tell.  
  
Myself that you're gone.  
  
No matter how hard she tried, he wouldn't leave her alone. She couldn't stop these thoughts from  
  
flooding her head and leaving her feeling weak.  
  
But though you're still with me.  
  
I've been alone.  
  
All alone.  
  
Why couldn't she just take all of this pain from her heart and all of these memories from her head. Why  
  
couldn't she forget how he'd made her feel. Why wouldn't he leave her alone.  
  
And now here she was, stuck in Sunnydale and faced with the knowledge that he was here. And despite  
  
the fact that he wouldn't seem to leave her, Willow suddenly felt so alone. With no-one to hold her or  
  
help her cope with this sorrow, this aching inside.  
  
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears.  
  
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears.  
  
And I held your hand through all of these years.  
  
And you still have.  
  
All of me.  
  
*If only Xander were here, * she thought, * or even Anya or Cordelia. Or Angel. He'd understand, his  
  
*Heart has been broken as well. *  
  
With that thought Willow wandered down the stairs.  
  
Suddenly she heard a rustle from the curtains. Whipping around she called out "Who's there?".  
  
No-one answered. * Bloody hell woman, now you're getting paranoid. I shouldn't have come here. And I  
  
should never have taken out this coat. I'm just hurting myself now. *  
  
With that thought Willow left the mansion, and the memories, behind her. Vowing to never think of any of  
  
them again.  
  
All of Me, All.  
  
* Never, ever again *  
  
Of Me, All.  
  
* Until you inevitably bump into him on patrol. *  
  
Of Me.  
  
* Bugger. *  
  
The song is 'My Immortal' by Evanescence and can be found on their album 'Fallen' and on the 'Bring  
  
Me To Life' DVD Single. 


	5. Explanations

Disclaimer: They're only mine when I'm having REM  
  
Explanations?  
  
As Ella, Rob and Will ran out of the Bronze Ella suddenly stopped and Rob went running into her  
  
causing both of them to end up lying in a tangle on the pavement. Will smirked at the human pile-up  
  
before him before looking to see what had caused it.  
  
"Thought that was gonna take longer." He commented, a surprised look on his face. "Hey Lizbeth."  
  
"Hey Will." The slayer replied, startled by the sight of Rob and Ella attempting to pick themselves up. In Ella's case this was made slightly more difficult by the skirt her friend had insisted she wear.  
  
"Dammit Lizbeth, you just had to make me wear a skirt that's main purpose is to allow everyone a view of my panties."  
  
Lizbeth attempted to cover up a fit of giggles and managed to choke out, "Well it's not exactly designed for rolling around on the floor in."  
  
Ella gave Lizbeth an evil glare as Angel leaned over to Willow and quietly whispered, "Is she sure about that?"  
  
"So anyway," Ella began, having finally righted herself and arranged the dreaded item of clothing. "What are you doing out here? And who's your friend?" As she said this she smiled appreciatively at Angel.  
  
"Well this is Angel. And of course you guys know the librarian."  
  
"Sure we do. Hi Miss Winters." Will smiled winningly at Willow and she replied, slightly shocked as the realization of Will's parentage hit her, "H...hello W...William. Robert. Angela."  
  
"So anyway," Rob began, "These two here totally believe you and wanted to make sure that you were okay."  
  
Willow glared slightly at her charge before replying, "Well naturally Will would believe Lizbeth, I mean considering his father was one of the people that assisted the last slayer that was placed in Sunnydale."  
  
Will gaped at the librarian, suddenly believing her to be slightly insane. "My dad. But. That's not possible. I mean I know he used to live here but. Nah. He's way to cautious to get involved with demon hunting or whatever. Besides, if that were the case then Ella and Rob's parents must have known about this stuff as well. I mean, they've known my dad for years."  
  
"Well I'm afraid I couldn't comment on that. I don't know their last names let alone who there parents are."  
  
Rob jumped in at this to say, "My mum's name is Anya Emerson and she didn't even grow up here, she grew up in Southeastern Indiana so not a possibility."  
  
"Look Rob," Willow began cautiously, slightly in shock by the realization that this was Xander's son. Her best friend's child. She was confused now. Wanting to tell this boy all of the fabulous brave things his father had done but not wanting to upset Anya too much as Willow was sure she would not be happy with the way things were progressing tonight, by the looks of it, Rob was to be part of a new generation of Scoobies.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
April, 2002  
  
Willow and Anya were out shopping for baby things. Although the baby wasn't due for another 24 weeks, Anya was already shopping like a maniac, buying all sorts of things for the child. Shopping for baby stuff wasn't exactly Willow's idea of a good time. In fact, Willow didn't really think that shopping for anything with the ex-demon could be classified as a 'good time'.  
  
But Xander had begged. Said that he needed a break from the mad shopping binge his fiancée had gone on but that he didn't trust her with his credit card right now. Willow grinned as she thought of what he had said next.  
  
Please willow, my bestest bud in the whole world, just hang out with her for a few hours and make sure she doesn't by the baby its first bicycle, or it's first Porsche or something.  
  
"What are you grinning about? Shopping is a serious business. We have to find things with those big red sale signs hanging over them. That means they're cheaper so we can buy more of them, doesn't it baby?"  
  
Willow glanced up at Anya in shock before realizing that half way through that sentence she'd begun talking to her belly instead of Willow.  
  
A thought suddenly occurred to Willow and she decided to broach the subject in an effort to turn the conversation away from 'big red sale signs'.  
  
"So Anya, what are you gonna do about, you know," Willow glanced around her and lowered her voice. " the fighting, when the baby is born?"  
  
"What fighting?!" Anya asked quite loudly. "Me and Xander aren't fighting, we never fight, did he tell you we had been fighting? Because it was just one little disagreement and I said that it was fine in the end I just figured that at some point the baby's going to need to learn to swim and it would be far less hassle to have a house with a pool. I mean you know what I mean, we wouldn't have to drive all the way to the public pool and we could spend as long in there as we wanted and..."  
  
"ANYA!" Willow said for the fifth time, finally interrupting the woman's escalating rant. "I wasn't talking about that kind of fighting. I was talking about the more 'demony' type fighting. With the blood and guts and late nights. Okay?"  
  
"Oh of course. Well that'll all stop. For both of us. I'm not having my baby grow up surrounded by demons."  
  
"Well naturally. So you're gonna wait until it's older then."  
  
"No. When I say it'll stop that's what I mean. If I could have my own way we wouldn't even live here but Xander's insistent that he won't leave you guys. And he wants his child to grow up here. He actually thinks that because we know how dangerous it is here we'll never stop being cautious which might happen if we moved somewhere else."  
  
"It's a good point I suppose. After a few years with no demon activity somewhere else, you might give the kid freedom to go out on his own at night and stuff."  
  
"My child will only be allowed out at night if it's with at least three others. And it will have to phone me every hour on the dot. He's never gonna end up like Xander, always in danger or worse, like Jesse."  
  
"Xander told you about Jesse?"  
  
"He talks about him a lot. Says that that night, no matter what the rest of you think, that was the night he started to grow up. I don't want my kid to go through all that."  
  
"Oh." Willow wasn't sure how to take this information. Of course she thought about Jesse a lot. Even now she couldn't forget him. But she and Xander had not really talked about it. Even when it had first happened. The subject had been too painful. Suddenly she felt a desperate need to see Xander. She was filled with this sudden feeling that it was very important she talk to him. She and Anya left the mall and when they arrived back at Xander's place, Willow's world began to tumble down. It was trashed, there was blood on the broken wardrobe door and Xander was gone.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
Swallowing the pain that these memories had brought back, Willow turned looked up at Rob.  
  
"I actually know your mom and she did help out, a lot, as did your dad. But I really don't think I'm the one that should be explaining this to you guys. Talk to your parents, ask them if they've ever heard of the slayer and just see what they..."  
  
"Elizabeth Williams." Ella yelled. "Did she know anything about this slayer?"  
  
"No," Willow replied. "I don't believe I've ever heard the name Elizabeth Williams."  
  
The group then turned to each other excitedly to discuss what they had all just learnt about their parents and all of the clues that they must have missed when they were growing up.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
Angel turned to Willow as the children in front of them began to talk excitedly.  
  
"Do you really think you should have done that?" he asked her gently.  
  
"Oh why not. I mean you remember all the hassles we had about convincing our parents we weren't doing anything dodgy back then. Well the problems that Xander and Buffy had at least."  
  
Angel gently squeezed her arm and quickly changed the subject away from Willow's parents.  
  
"But what if they didn't say anything for a reason? I mean, you know what Anya was like. When the mayor turned up she just left. And Oz, well, he..."  
  
"left. You can say it Angel. I'm over all that now. That was nothing compared to...well... you know."  
  
At this Willow turned her face away from the vampire's and continued. "I just think that if they knew then it would save the kids a lot of sneaking around. And anyway, for all we know Oz and Anya never stopped helping. I mean after... well... you know... anyway, after that, they might have been like me you  
  
know? Decided that they still wanted to fight for the cause. Either way, they'll understand. They went through it too."  
  
"Ella's mom didn't. Her mom knows nothing about this, this world. How do you think her parents would react if they found out huh? She shouldn't be involved. It's too dangerous."  
  
At this Willow nearly lost her temper and whipped round to glare at Angel. "Was it too dangerous for us?" she spat out. "No, because we were willing, because we were careful, because we had Giles, because we had you." Her voice softened as she mentioned Giles. "The fact is Angel, they know. And if they're gonna help, there's nothing we can do to stop them. So I just have to be there for them."  
  
"We." Angel corrected her.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"We have to be there for them."  
  
A smile appeared on her face, a true smile. It was a strange sensation, as she had not really smiled since, well since fifteen years ago.  
  
"Thank you." She whispered.  
  
"MISS WINTERS!" Willow jumped and turned to face the young girl yelling at her.  
  
"Yes Ella?"  
  
"I've been shouting at you for like, five minutes."  
  
"Well I'm sorry. What is wrong?"  
  
"We wanna help." Ella said, gesturing to herself and the two boys stood either side of her.  
  
"We're gonna help" Rob added, a resolute look on his handsome face.  
  
Willow turned to look at Will, expecting a similar statement to be spoken but instead he crossed his arms and looked matter-of-factly at the librarian.  
  
* He is just so Oz. * The brunette thought, a mysterious smile taking over her stern looks.  
  
She looked around at the teenagers one by one. They seemed so strong, so much stronger than she had been at their age. It would be fine, and maybe with Oz and Anya helping, they wouldn't find it as hard as the original Scoobies had. Of course that was the big question. Would the adults in these kids' lives help or hinder?  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
Willow walked the teenagers home, first they dropped off Ella, after insisting that she must keep this a secret from her parents. Ella agreed that, while her dad was pretty cool, her mother was way too staid to accept something like this. Angel agreed to go and patrol with Lizbeth. Next came the decision. And it was an incredibly hard one. Who should she see first? As Willow didn't feel she could cope with two more faces from the past she left the decision to the boys.  
  
"Which of you lives nearest to here?" She asked, deciding that whoever lived nearest she would drop off first and whoever lived the farthest would receive a very unexpected late night visitor.  
  
"He does."  
  
Willow looked at the boy pointing to his friend. And she gulped. * Well here goes Willow. * They dropped of the first teenager and then, in what felt like no time at all, she was stood on the dreaded doorstep. The door was opened.  
  
"Come in Miss Winters. "The handsome young man said politely. "Make yourself at home. I'll just go get..."  
  
"Hello, who's your friend?"  
  
Willow looked up and stepped forward into the light. "It's me. Willow."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~ 


	6. Dredging up the Past

Disclaimer: They're only mine when I'm having REM  
  
Dredging up the past  
  
Will looked backwards and forwards between his dad and Miss Winters. Why had she called herself  
  
Willow? He was sure Lizbeth had said her name was Alex. And from the way his dad was staring at her  
  
he was beginning to feel that there were many more secrets to Miss Winters than her name. For  
  
example, why was his dad so speechless? He was a quiet man but he was always polite. Now the  
  
musician was just staring at the librarian.  
  
Finally Oz spoke. "William, upstairs please."  
  
"But I really think I should st..."  
  
"Upstairs now."  
  
Will stared at his dad in shock. That was the first time he'd ever been ordered to do something. And the  
  
teenager did not enjoy the feeling that came with it. However, upstairs seemed to be a far safer place  
  
than here right now. He was not liking the tension in this hall one bit.  
  
"I'll see you in the morning then. Goodnight Miss Winters."  
  
Neither of the two adults in the hall acknowledged the boys farewell, Willow was too caught up in the  
  
sight of her old love and Oz was busy processing the fact that his son had called Willow Miss Winters.  
  
"So." The nervous woman began.  
  
"So." Oz replied cautiously.  
  
He let out a breath that he hadn't even realized he was holding, and continued. "You're married."  
  
"What. No. Why...Oh, the Winters thing. No I just. I wanted to leave Willow behind. Completely. So I  
  
changed my name."  
  
"Why did you come back then? If you wanted to leave it all behind I mean."  
  
"Work."  
  
"Oh."  
  
They lapsed into another long silence, memories flooding back.  
  
After a few moments more of staring and remembering, Oz finally said, "Well I suppose you should  
  
come in to the lounge."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
As Willow settled herself on the comfy brown sofa Oz asked the easiest question he would ask that  
  
night.  
  
"Tea? Coffee?"  
  
"Tea please."  
  
As the werewolf busied himself with the task of preparing Tea, Willow glanced around the room, she  
  
took it all in, the Stereo, the huge CD and record collection, the small TV. and a couple of guitars rested  
  
in the corner of the room. It was obviously a family room; the rug on the floor was a beautiful picture of a  
  
wolf, sat alert, surrounded by tree trunks. Flowers were on the windowsill. This home definitely had been  
  
given the female touch, but there were no signs that the house had a female occupant. At least not one  
  
over the age of 16 Willow thought as she glanced at the copy of Seventeen Magazine mixed in with the  
  
copies of Total Guitar and Kerrang!  
  
She glanced up at the fireplace and spotted a number of photos. There was one of Will, his arms around  
  
a young girl of about fifteen. Willow recognized Oz's easy grin and kind eyes on the girl's face. *A  
  
daughter as well. So where's the wife? *  
  
"She left us." Oz answered.  
  
Willow looked round in shock. "Did I say that out loud?"  
  
"No, but everyone who comes here looks at those pictures and asks where the ones of my wife are."  
  
"Oh. I'm sorry."  
  
"Don't be, it was for the best. She couldn't handle being a mother. She tried for the first few years, but  
  
she knew that it was no good. She just didn't get that maternal feeling. We both agreed that the kids  
  
would be better of with no mother than with a mother who couldn't seem to love them."  
  
"But still, it must have been hard."  
  
"Surprisingly not. We were never in love. Just infatuated."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Silence settled over the room as Willow accepted her tea and sat back down on the sofa.  
  
"So do you want to start?" Oz asked gently, sensing that whatever Willow had to tell him would involve  
  
some pain. Of course he'd found out the basic story of what had caused Willow's departure when he'd  
  
returned to Sunnydale. But he knew there would be more to tell.  
  
"Okay. I suppose it all started with Spike."  
  
"I know."  
  
The young watcher looked up in surprise. "How?"  
  
"Anya."  
  
"Oh, right."  
  
"So what happened after you left?"  
  
"Well I traveled for a while, Asia, Europe, finally I arrived in England."  
  
The story continued for a few hours as Willow retold every moment since she had left Sunnydale all  
  
those years before. She even, haltingly, told the story of her last attempt to love. A young man back in  
  
2003. He had been 18, on his post-grad. vacation in England. They had only been together for a month  
  
but she had really begun to fall for him. He was very intelligent, very attractive. However, it had only  
  
lasted for a month because then her parents had died and Willow finally realized that everyone she had  
  
ever cared about left her or died. She didn't want to go through that again so she'd left one morning,  
  
while he was asleep, refusing to let herself fall in love again.  
  
When Oz heard this he felt his heart sink. True, it hadn't been completely his fault, but still. If he hadn't  
  
left in the first place then chances were none of this would have happened. But still, who ends up  
  
marrying their high school sweet heart? They wouldn't have lasted forever. As he looked at her now he  
  
realized how true that statement was. She was so different from the Willow he had fallen in love with all  
  
those years ago, that innocence and sweetness was gone. All that seemed to be left in those bright  
  
baby blues was pain.  
  
"Oz?" Willow asked gently, her story had ended with her arrival here in Sunnydale and the discovery  
  
that her slayer's new friends included his son.  
  
"So now you're a watcher and there's a new Scooby gang huh? And Will's one of them. Can't say I'm  
  
surprised."  
  
"You mean you're okay with this? With him helping?"  
  
"No. How can I be okay? You're basically telling me that my son is planning on putting himself in mortal  
  
danger on a nightly basis."  
  
Willow's face fell at this. "So you won't let him help then."  
  
"Do I have a choice?" Oz smiled sadly at his former lover before continuing, "Nothing could have  
  
stopped me from helping you know. I was always there for you guys. All of you. If I'd ever been told  
  
otherwise, I still would have helped. Besides, Will still has some of his mother in him. She always did  
  
what she wanted, no matter what I said to her. No matter how often I told her I loved her, she knew the  
  
truth. She did what was best, even though I begged her to stay."  
  
"You begged?" Willow asked quietly, surprised at the thought of the stoic Oz begging.  
  
"I didn't think I could do it on my own. Be a father I mean. But she knew better. Emma always knew that  
  
I was the one they should be with. I was the one that would do anything in my power to protect them.  
  
Will's just like her. He always does what's right. Never told a lie to my knowledge. I don't want to be the  
  
one to make him start."  
  
Willow wanted to ask about Emma, find out more about the woman Oz had fallen for after her. But this  
  
was not the time. * One difficult conversation at a time Willow. *  
  
"And you? Do you still... well, you know."  
  
"Yes."  
  
Yet another surprise. Willow hadn't really expected Oz to still be a part of that world. But apparently he  
  
was.  
  
"It's dangerous on your own. You shouldn't fight alone, you know that!" She wasn't sure where the anger  
  
had come from but suddenly the thought of Oz putting himself in harm's way enraged her. It wasn't like  
  
before. He had no slayer with him now.  
  
"I'm not alone. Anya.."  
  
"Oh of course, Anya." Now the anger gave way to a jealousy that Willow knew was unreasonable. He  
  
hadn't been hers for a long time, but still, the idea of him and Anya fighting side by side, of her tending  
  
his wounds after a battle, of her helping him decorate this home, providing flowers and a rug. It hurt that  
  
someone else was with him, making him happy, while she had been suffering alone all this time.  
  
"And how long have you and Anya been together then?" She spat out the woman's name as though it  
  
had a foul taste.  
  
Oz reacted in the most bizarre way Willow could think of. He laughed. A long, deep laugh that she had  
  
never heard before, even when they were together, he had never laughed like that. Suddenly she hated  
  
that laugh. He was mocking her! Laughing at her jealousy. Willow stood up quickly, red with rage.  
  
"DON'T LAUGH AT ME! IT'S NOT FUNNY! THE IDEA OF YOU AND HER! IT'S DISGUSTING!"  
  
The smile on his face disappeared in an instant and he tried to make her sit down. "Willow..."  
  
"Don't TOUCH ME!"  
  
"Willow you don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"YOU THINK I HAVEN't FIGURED IT OUT!"  
  
"Figured what out?"  
  
"OH COME ON OZ! IT'S OBVIOUS! YOU'RE NOT ALONE BECAUSE YOU'RE SHACKING UP WITH  
  
THAT...WOMAN!"  
  
"WHAT! Willow listen I don't..."  
  
"OH DON'T MAKE EXCUSES! IF YOU WANNA SLEEP WITH THAT MONEY OBSESSED..."  
  
"I'M NOT SLEEPING WITH ANYA!"  
  
Willow froze, looking into his beautiful blue eyes.  
  
"I'm not sleeping with Anya." He repeated quietly, again he was the Oz Willow knew. Calm,  
  
understanding, holding her arms gently but firmly. "Please don't shout, you'll wake the kids."  
  
Willow felt the shame wash over her. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."  
  
"Me and Anya aren't sleeping together. We never have. We just help each other. We're both single  
  
parents so naturally we spend time together. It's like a kind of support system."  
  
"I bet she needs it more than you." Willow joked weakly as she allowed herself to be pulled back down  
  
onto the sofa.  
  
"You'd be surprised. She's just got one boy, I've got a girl as well."  
  
"I'm sorry. I had no right. It isn't my business either way."  
  
"I understand. You don't think I went a bit mental at Spike when I heard; I wanted to rip him to shreds for  
  
hurting you. Hell, I wanted to rip him to shreds for touching you! Of course he was long gone. Hasn't  
  
been around here since you left."  
  
This stunned Willow. Did this mean he'd just returned? Although she knew that when he wanted Spike  
  
could be just as invisible and lurky as Angel, it just wasn't his style. He liked to taunt from the sidelines.  
  
He craved the attention. He wanted to be seen.  
  
"Willow?"  
  
"Sorry. Just thinking."  
  
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned...certain people."  
  
"Well it was gonna come up at some point. I just don't like to think about them too often. It's harder now  
  
of course. Being here."  
  
"So...you want us to help?"  
  
"Yes." Willow smiled gratefully at Oz, relieved at the abrupt and obvious subject change. "If you would.  
  
We could use you. Plus it will probably make it easier on Will. You know. Knowing."  
  
"Everything?"  
  
"As much as you feel is necessary. Just make sure you tell me what he doesn't know. Wouldn't want to  
  
let any embarrassing secrets out would we?"  
  
Oz took her hands gently in his and stared deeply into her eyes. "You could never be an  
  
embarrassment. You're one of the people in my life that I'm most proud to know. The fact that you loved  
  
me just shows how lucky I was back then. And what an idiot I was as well."  
  
"Oz..."  
  
"Shhh."  
  
With that he leaned forward, brushing her hair away from her cheek as he had done so many time  
  
before. He tenderly caressed her cheek and they stayed like that for a moment, losing themselves in  
  
each other's eyes. Finally, being able to stand the distance no longer, Willow closed the gap and  
  
pressed her soft lips against his. She felt at home again, briefly everything was normal; she was exactly  
  
where she was supposed to be. But then the safety the tender moment had given her fell away as she  
  
realized that this kiss was different in one way, it was a kiss between two people who, though they had  
  
once meant everything to each other, were practically strangers, with very different lives, and needs.  
  
As they pulled away Oz wiped the tears away from her eyes and, gesturing to them, asked "Why?"  
  
Taking a deep, calming breath, she replied, "Because that was our last kiss."  
  
Oz smiled sadly. "I know."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
After the emotions both of the people sat on the sofa had calmed, they continued their conversation.  
  
"So tell me about life here since I left." Willow asked as Oz handed her a whisky. After the events of a  
  
few moments before they had both agreed that tea was by no means a strong enough beverage.  
  
"Well, I came back when the kids were three and four. So I missed a lot. Will made friends with Rob and  
  
Ella pretty much instantly. Whereas Jenny, That's my daughter's name, Jennifer. Well she has always  
  
been quite a quiet one. Tends to avoid people. Never seems to bring anyone home. Although I suppose  
  
that means that I don't need to worry about meeting the boyfriend for a while." Oz joked. Willow smiled.  
  
Oz joking, Oz grinning constantly, Oz laughing. Goddess this was gonna take some getting used to.  
  
"So Jenny's like you then."  
  
"Well I wouldn't say that. I mean, she hasn't got a musical bone in her body. And she can really yell if  
  
she wants. But most people don't see that side of her. It's her mother's temper you see, Emma was  
  
always up for an argument."  
  
"How on earth did she cope with you then?"  
  
"Well ultimately she didn't."  
  
Willow silently cursed herself for such a careless comment. "Oh Oz I'm sorry, I just didn't think. I'm  
  
really..."  
  
"Willow please don't. I told you. We parted amicably, kind of. We were too different, that was part of the  
  
problem. I wanted family and she wanted freedom."  
  
"Well, I'm sorry, please continue."  
  
"Well naturally, with Will becoming so close to Rob and Ella it wasn't long before I met up with the  
  
others..."  
  
"Oh of course, that's what I meant to ask you, because Ella was bugging me about it earlier. Her mother  
  
and father, Elizabeth and, oh I didn't get her father's name. Do they know, you know, about vampires  
  
and everything?"  
  
Oz looked at Willow, apparently confused. "Willow, did Ella tell you her mother's full name?"  
  
Willow was also confused by this unusual question. "Well yes, she said her mother was called Elizabeth  
  
Williams. Why?"  
  
"Ella's Father's name is Pike Williams."  
  
"Aaand?" Willow still didn't see where this conversation was going.  
  
"Ella's mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Summers."  
  
Oz was shocked as he saw the brunette, he still couldn't get used to the hair colour, seemingly fainted in  
  
front of him. Catching the whisky glass before it hit the floor he shook the woman in front of him and as a  
  
last attempt, he held the whisky underneath her nose until she inhaled the strong scent of the liquor and  
  
regained consciousness.  
  
"Willow? What..."  
  
"Did you say Buffy is Ella's Mom?"  
  
"Well yes. But I thought you knew that..."  
  
"That she was alive. No. Last I saw she was diving into the Hellmouth."  
  
"Ah. Uhm, I guess I have more to tell you than I thought. You see, Buffy did jump into the hellmouth,  
  
apparently she managed to grab onto a rock that was jutting out near the top. She held onto that rock for  
  
nearly a day, I still don't know how she managed it, I mean even the slayer gets worn out, but anyway,  
  
Cordelia had a vision, she saw what had happened after the hellmouth had closed and, realizing that  
  
Buffy was still alive, Cordy, Wesley and some guy called Gunn dug her out. So the story goes.  
  
"It sounds so simple when you say it but... how can it be possible." Willow suddenly felt more lost and  
  
confused than she ever had before, if only she'd never come back here. Every day her world was  
  
changing, First Spike was hiding in Sunnydale, while Angel was running out of the shadows to comfort  
  
her, Oz was a father and now Buffy was alive. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore.  
  
"...a miracle and leave it at that." Oz finished. Willow glanced up at him, having heard none of what he'd  
  
said just then.  
  
As Oz looked into the confused, scared eyes before him he asked her the question that she refused to  
  
ask herself.  
  
"Do you want to go and see her?"  
  
"No!" Willow answered sharply. It was too soon, she hadn't bothered to decide how she felt now towards  
  
the Blonde, she'd never needed to, she hadn't been expecting to see her again, considering she'd been  
  
dead and everything.  
  
"Not yet, I'm not ready to...to have that conversation."  
  
Oz smiled understandingly and they both glanced towards the window as the first rays of the sun burst  
  
through into the living room.  
  
"Daybreak." Willow whispered.  
  
"We've talked all night." Oz stated needlessly.  
  
Sighing Willow muttered, dejectedly, "At least some things don't change"  
  
"You want to have a nap in my bed for a couple of hours before school? I've got some writing to do  
  
anyway and that whisky has me surprisingly wakeful."  
  
"Thank you but I couldn't..."  
  
"I insist. There's no point in your going home now. Rest for a couple of hours, I'll make you breakfast  
  
and wake you at seven, that's two hours okay?"  
  
"Thank you Oz."  
  
"It's fine, really."  
  
"Not for the breakfast. For..."  
  
"I know."  
  
Smiling Oz helped Willow stand up and showed her to the bedroom, before he returned to the sitting  
  
room, picked up his favourite guitar and then played until it was time to make breakfast.  
  
* What a night. *  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~ 


	7. Changing Relations

A/N: Sorry that it's taken so ridiculously long to update but I'm moving swiftly towards graduation and my  
  
tutors seem determined to give out as much work as humanly possible before I escape! Thank you to  
  
everyone who e-mailed me asking for more of either 'Chances' or 'Time Warp'  
  
This Chapter is dedicated to lunarprincess3 for managing to make me feel incredibly guilty about not  
  
updating and therefore spurring me into action. Cheers for the support mate!  
  
Disclaimer: They're only mine when I'm having REM  
  
Changing Relations  
  
Breakfast that morning was awkward to say the least. Oz very quickly explained to Will and Jenny that  
  
he had slept on the couch. Jenny accepted this straight away and quite frankly seemed far more  
  
interested in the magazine she was reading. Will's inquisitive nature was not so easily dissuaded.  
  
"So, anything you wanna tell me dad?"  
  
"Not this morning Will."  
  
"When then?"  
  
"Tonight."  
  
"Is it true? Were you really...?"  
  
"Tonight. William."  
  
Willow and Jenny sat quietly, but Jenny had decided to put her magazine on the table and was making  
  
no attempt to hide her interest in the discussion occurring between her father and brother.  
  
Will stared at his father, yet again confused by his bizarre attitude. Recognising a rare, sharp look in  
  
Oz's eyes, the young boy gave up and turned to the woman sat beside his dad.  
  
"So Alex, how come last night dad called you Willow?"  
  
A quick look passed between the two adults, then Oz said, "time for you two to get to school. Come on  
  
Jenny, go get your bag; Will, we'll talk tonight. I'm calling a family meeting at six o' clock and I don't want  
  
you pestering miss..." Oz glanced once more at the librarian, "...Winters, with questions today. It's  
  
family business and I want both of you to remember that. He concluded, looking pointedly at his son.  
  
The young musician held the elder one's gaze for a moment before turning to Willow.  
  
"I'll see you later Miss Winters."  
  
He then abruptly left the table and, grabbing his bag, he yelled for his sister to join him and five minutes  
  
later they were on their way.  
  
As the two siblings slowly journeyed towards the school Jenny finally spoke.  
  
"Will, what was all that about? Why was the new librarian staying at our house?"  
  
Will paused, eyeing his sister, attempting to judge just how much he should tell her.  
  
"I think they used to know each other." He replied cautiously.  
  
"Oh." Jenny commented as she lapsed into silence whilst forming her next question.  
  
"What aren't you telling me Will?"  
  
The young guitarist paused once more before replying quietly, "I don't really know yet. But I'll find out."  
  
The two siblings walked the rest of the way in silence, each one attempting to work out what was going  
  
on with their father and what his link was to the new librarian.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
"I can't believe we're finally gonna find out what our parents were up to when they were kids." Rob said  
  
excitedly as the four students walked into the school entrance that morning.  
  
"What your parents were up to you mean." Ella replied moodily. "My parents were just as boring as I  
  
expected. Never doing anything."  
  
"Still don't worry about it Ella. You're involved now. That's what's really important. To me at least."  
  
Lizbeth said as she put her arm around the blonde's shoulder and giving her a comforting squeeze.  
  
"Look, if you like, after school you can come round mine. Video night. I've got popcorn and I do believe  
  
that me dad 'as a bottle of Jack in the drinks' cabinet."  
  
Ella grinned and asked, "Won't your dad have a bit of a problem with us drinking his alcohol?"  
  
"Nah, 'e won't even notice it's gone. As of Ten o' clock this mornin' my dad's officially in London fer a  
  
month on business. Time 'e gets back, 'e won't even remember that 'e 'ad it."  
  
"Well in that case, how can I say no!"  
  
"Wicked, so you provide the vids, an' I'll sort the refreshments."  
  
"Aren't we invited?" Rob asked giving his best puppy face in attempt to gain the sympathetic vote.  
  
"Nope. Girl's night tonight boys. Anyway, I've gotta go. See you later."  
  
As Lizbeth waved goodbye to the gang, she felt a tug on her arm as she was pulled into a small  
  
deserted classroom next to the English one she pulled back, alert and ready for a fight.  
  
"Chill out English!"  
  
"Chris" Lizbeth sighed with relief, before yelling at him. "What are you doing! You worried me!"  
  
"Just wanted to get a minute alone with a certain gorgeous new Sunnydale High student." He replied in  
  
a cocky manner. Before continuing he adopted a grave look, "I've got a serious problem."  
  
Suddenly Lizbeth really became worried and asked in hushed tones, "What? What's wrong? Are you  
  
okay?"  
  
"Not in the least. I don't have a date for the football game on Saturday and that could ruin my reputation,  
  
turning up alone. I really need your help. Go with me."  
  
Not only was Lizbeth taken aback by Chris' 'problem' but she was also slightly shocked by the fact that  
  
he wanted her to go out with him. Attempting to be casual about it, Lizbeth simply replied, "Was that a  
  
request or a command?"  
  
"A request. But only the one. I don't do begging."  
  
"Well maybe if you can manage to not embarrass me for a whole English class, I'll not embarrass you by  
  
making you go stag." Lizbeth retorted and with a quick wink she span round and gracefully entered the  
  
English room, giving her apologies to Mr. Paxton for her lateness and, sitting in her seat at the back of  
  
the room, she removed her copy of Pride and Prejudice and began to make notes. Refusing to look into  
  
the hard Grey eyes that she could feel burrowing into her cheek.  
  
"Mr. Malloy, would you please face the front!"  
  
Lizbeth grinned dangerously. Oh this boy had no idea what he was getting into.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
"Willow? Alex?"  
  
She turned towards the stacks and stared for a moment before replying. "Angel, thank you for coming.  
  
And when it's just us you can call me Willow. There's no point pretending with you."  
  
He looked carefully at the woman before him. She'd been crying again. He'd bet that that was a  
  
common occurrence, especially since she'd come back here. "Okay Willow, You needed to talk to me?"  
  
"Did you know that Buffy is still alive?" She asked the question bluntly, not wanting to piss about with  
  
subtext.  
  
"Yes." He replied carefully, not wishing to continue until he knew exactly how she felt about the news.  
  
"Oh." Willow suddenly felt lost. She'd had a whole conversation planned in her head. Unfortunately she  
  
couldn't quite bring herself to continue with it. "I saw Oz last night."  
  
"What did he say?"  
  
"He wants to help. Apparently he has been helping Buffy and her husband, along with Anya, for years."  
  
Angel nodded, he was aware that the group had been out patrolling most nights for a while. But that  
  
didn't really give any clues as to their views on their children becoming involved.  
  
"He said that he is okay with Will helping. As long as we are all there. Anya will be more difficult to  
  
convince."  
  
"And Ella's parents?"  
  
"Are Buffy and her husband."  
  
This surprised Angel. He had never really expected the slayer to have children. He'd hoped, but not  
  
realistically. "So that could still be quite a problem."  
  
"More so than before. I wish you'd told me Angel. Now that Oz is involved there's no way that Buffy  
  
won't find out. Even if he wasn't involved, do you really think that she'd never notice a group of  
  
teenagers fighting demons? I'll have to see her."  
  
They both sat quietly for a few moments, contemplating the difficulties that faced them. With Ella  
  
involved, there was no way that they could hide from Buffy, but would the slayer really let her only child  
  
risk her life. Willow was pretty sure that she knew the answer to that one. And there was still the  
  
unspoken issue of Spike. With such a history, Willow really doubted that she'd be able to work with Buffy  
  
again, or even look at her for that matter.  
  
Finally one of them spoke.  
  
"Willow, you know that I will help, but I can't see her. I can't fight beside her again. If...When Buffy  
  
becomes involved in this, I have to stop being seen. Disappear. Help from the shadows."  
  
Willow looked into his deep brown eyes, slightly shocked but understanding nevertheless. "I will insist  
  
that the children don't mention you. But please, don't... don't hide from me. From what I can tell the only  
  
thing that hasn't changed here is you. My relationships with everyone else are complex at best, this..."  
  
she waved her hand between the two of them." ...is nice and simple. I need something simple. I could  
  
really use a friend."  
  
He smiled warmly at the thought that Willow really considered him to be a friend. "Of course I won't hide  
  
from you Willow. Besides, I still owe you."  
  
She looked at him questioningly.  
  
"Well if it weren't for you I wouldn't have my soul. So I think it's fair to say that I owe you my life."  
  
Willow blushed slightly at that and looked away, not knowing how to reply. When she looked up again,  
  
she was alone.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
That night Ella arrived at Lizbeth's house armed with Empire Records and Almost Famous. As Lizbeth  
  
ushered her in Ella noted the look of excitement on her friend's face.  
  
"Hey Lizbeth, you seem to be in a good mood!" Ella laughed as her hostess started bopping around the  
  
room to New Found Glory.  
  
"You were everything I wanted! But I just can't finish what I started! I'm in a wicked mood!" Lizbeth  
  
yelled, dancing over to the CD player to turn the volume down so that she could talk to her friend without  
  
shouting at her. "Wanna drink?" the redhead asked her amused guest.  
  
"Sure. I brought the movies, Empire Records and Almost Famous, have you seen them?"  
  
"Are you kiddin'" Lizbeth replied, still seeming incredibly hyper. "Almost Famous is my absolute favourite  
  
film!" Suddenly the slayer jumped on to the sofa, spread her arms and yelled at the top of her voice "I  
  
AM A GOLDEN GOD!" before collapsing in a heap of giggles, sputtering "that espresso machine is a  
  
bloody health hazard'' whilst pointing wildly towards the kitchen.  
  
Ella stood smirking for a moment before replying "maybe you should stick to tea in future!"  
  
"Urgh! Not a chance. Can't stand the stuff!" Lizbeth replied passionately as she struggled to right herself.  
  
Finally, both girls found themselves sat on the floor in front of the telly, awaiting the opening of the first  
  
film with drinks firmly in hand and a bowl of popcorn sat between them.  
  
"So," Lizbeth began, ready to tell her friend about the events of the day. "Chris Malloy asked me to go to  
  
the football game with him on Saturday."  
  
Ella turned slowly to look at the girl beside her.  
  
"Are you serious?"  
  
"Yup. 'e asked us before English. Practically begged."  
  
"Wow. Um, look, I know you're new and don't really know much about this school but if there is one guy  
  
you don't want to be dating it's Malloy."  
  
Lizbeth looked at Ella questioningly, waiting for an explanation. When one didn't come she asked, "How  
  
come? What's 'is deal?"  
  
Ella hesitated briefly, choosing her words carefully. "Well, it's just that, Chris has something of a  
  
reputation."  
  
"Aaaand?"  
  
"And he's a selfish, conceited, rich bigot who – according to him - always sleeps with girls on a first  
  
date."  
  
"Well I don't fink I need to worry about 'im forcin' 'imself on me."  
  
"You don't get it Lizbeth. The last girl he dated here had her reputation ruined. She had to transfer to  
  
another school."  
  
"But if everyone knows what 'e's like... 'ow come they believe 'im?"  
  
"Look, there are a lot of sheep in our school, most of the kids round here can't think for themselves. As  
  
far as they're concerned, Malloy is handsome, rich and therefore powerful. It's up to you but I would  
  
strongly suggest that you avoid him."  
  
Lizbeth was quiet for a moment, lost in thought. Eventually she replied." Or I could go to the game with  
  
him, have some fun of my own"  
  
Ella glanced at the evil grin on her friend's face and suddenly felt almost sorry for Christopher Malloy.  
  
The poor guy didn't know what he'd gotten himself into.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
As Oz looked at his children's expectant faces as they sat before him, he gulped. This was not going to  
  
be easy.  
  
"Okay, guys. I know you're probably both wondering what Wi... Ms Winters... was doing here this  
  
morning."  
  
"Among other things." Will murmured catching the sharp look his father gave him. He'd gotten a few of  
  
these looks since last night and he really wasn't loving this new version of his dad.  
  
Jenny ignored her brother's mutterings and looked at her father across the dining table. "To be honest  
  
dad, it seems kind of obvious. You two used to date, she left town, you met mom, and since Ms Winters  
  
has reappeared you two decided to have a long catching up session."  
  
Oz smiled at his daughter, she was so sharp, never missed a trick. "Well I guess that's pretty much it  
  
actually."  
  
"And I'm guessing that there's quite a bit more." His son threw back at him.  
  
*God I hate this* the werewolf thought to himself, realizing that his relationship with his children was  
  
probably going to become quite strained pretty soon if he wasn't careful.  
  
"You'd guess right Will. Okay, kids, I'm going to tell you about my life when I was about your age. Please  
  
don't interrupt until I finish. It all began in my senior year, it was career day..."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
Willow walked down the street slowly, her red hair shining in the moonlight. It had been a hard decision  
  
to make, but she finally realized that it was about time she accepted the fact that she was going to have  
  
to give up Alexandra Winters for good. She was going to have to convince Anya and Buffy to let their  
  
children fight the forces of evil and if they agreed the former witch knew that her old friends would be  
  
fighting with them. There was no point pretending that she was someone else.  
  
As she thought about Buffy her mind drifted back to a certain other bleach blonde who had betrayed her.  
  
Her talk with Oz the previous evening had made it obvious that Spike had not made his presence in  
  
Sunnydale known. This confused Willow. Obviously Spike and Buffy hadn't continued their affair, so why  
  
was the vampire hanging around Sunnydale. She was certain that the Spike she saw a couple of nights  
  
before was the same Spike she had thought she'd known before she left all those years ago. After all, if  
  
he'd reverted to his former bad ass self he wouldn't have sat staring at her for so long. And he certainly  
  
wouldn't have kept quiet the entire time.  
  
But why would he want to hang around so close to the slayer if he didn't want to be with her. The  
  
redhead wasn't stupid enough to think that Spike was still interested in the blonde slayer. If he were he'd  
  
be making a show of it, not hiding himself away in a tiny crypt.  
  
Willow sighed as she walked up the path and knocked on the door in front of her, it was a puzzle, but  
  
not one that she should be worrying about now. The door opened and blue eyes peered out at her.  
  
Right now she had far more important worries.  
  
"Willow?" a shocked voice questioned.  
  
Such as how to convince this woman to let her only child fight beside her slayer.  
  
"Buffy." Willow replied coldly.  
  
This was not going to be easy. 


	8. Repercussions

Disclaimer: They're only mine when I'm having REM  
  
Repercussions  
  
Buffy stared at the woman sat opposite her. She never thought she'd see Willow again and suddenly,  
  
out of nowhere, here she was, sat on the slayer's couch, drinking tea and staring at her with almost no  
  
emotion. Buffy couldn't help but wonder why on earth her old friend had bothered to come here.  
  
Finally Willow spoke "I'm a watcher."  
  
Buffy wasn't sure how to reply to that. "So let me guess, you're here to train some new slayer."  
  
Willow's eyes betrayed nothing; she stared blankly as she began to explain. "I am here to help the new  
  
slayer. She's a student at New Sunnydale High. Her name is Lizbeth Richards."  
  
Buffy gasped, Lizbeth, the English girl that Ella had brought home with her the other night. That tiny,  
  
polite young girl was a slayer. Although Buffy new that 16 was not that young for a slayer, she couldn't  
  
help but feel surprised. Finally it hit her, the girl that ELLA had brought home, the girl that ELLA was  
  
staying with tonight, the girl that ELLA had suddenly decided to spend all her free time with. Her  
  
daughter was quickly becoming best friends with a vampire slayer. That was why Willow was here. It  
  
wasn't to forgive her. It wasn't to ask for her help. It was about her baby. She finally looked up at Willow  
  
and spoke.  
  
"I won't allow it."  
  
"You know why you have to. It's exactly the same, we all did it for you, of course she'd want to do it for  
  
Lizbeth."  
  
"You come here after nearly two decades with no word and expect me to just say yes. To just let you  
  
take my daughter away from me."  
  
"I'm not taking her anywhere. If I had my way none of them would be involved. But I'll be able to stop  
  
them about as much as Giles could have stopped us. As much as you could have stopped us."  
  
Buffy thought for a minute. The last thing she wanted was for her baby to be caught up in that world.  
  
Especially after she'd spent the last sixteen years shielding her from it. But she wasn't stupid. She knew  
  
that Willow was telling her the truth. And she remembered what she'd been like at that age. If Buffy tried  
  
to stop Ella from becoming involved she'd only end up pushing her away.  
  
"She won't patrol or do anything without me there. You train her just like you train this Lizbeth girl. And  
  
Willow..."  
  
The watcher looked up her in the eyes, still showing no sign of emotion.  
  
"...If anything happens to her. I'll kill you AND your slayer."  
  
Willow stood up slowly, looked at her former friend briefly and walked towards the door. As she opened  
  
it she paused to speak, "Then we will fight side by side again. I'll let Ella and Lizbeth know. But  
  
remember, you and I, we're not friends." And with that she stepped outside and slammed the door  
  
behind her.  
  
At the sound of the door slamming Pike Williams ran downstairs to be greeted by the sight of his wife  
  
curled up on the sofa, tears streaming down her face.  
  
"Buffy? What's wrong sweetie? What happened? Who was that?"  
  
The blonde slayer looked up at her husband and grimaced through the tears.  
  
''Just someone I used to know.''  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
Rob stared at Will, who was sat opposite him on a small table in the Bronze. It was ten o'clock and his  
  
friend had just finished relating the story his father had told him earlier. Rob was speechless. About  
  
many things. Firstly, Mr. Osbourne was a werewolf. Secondly, he had dated Ms Winters – who  
  
apparently was really called Willow Rosenberg. Finally, according to Will, not only had his mother been  
  
involved in the whole Demon hunting thing, but she had once been an actual demon. Oh yeah, Rob was  
  
definitely speechless.  
  
"That's not all of it though." Will said, slowly, making sure that Rob was still listening to him.  
  
The larger boy looked up in an obvious state of shock. "There's more?"  
  
"The slayer, Buffy...Her full name was Buffy Summers."  
  
Rob spat out the drink that he'd just had and stuttered "y...you m...mean. Ella's ... Ella's mom!"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Rob jumped out of his seat, grabbed his jacket and, throwing it on, said "Come on."  
  
Will looked at him questioningly, although he too grabbed his coat, "Where are we going?"  
  
"To crash a sleepover."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
"Gotta have it, really need it to get by, sugar high..."  
  
Ella and Lizbeth stopped dancing around the room when they heard the hammering on the front door.  
  
As Lizbeth rushed over to open it she managed to knock the half empty whisky bottle and Ella launched  
  
herself across the room to catch it before they lost the rest of their alcohol.  
  
At the sound of Lizbeth's scream, Ella jumped up and ran to the door only to find Rob holding on to a  
  
highly inebriated redhead as she hugged him tightly mumbling something about lovely American boys  
  
with cute arses. Will looked on amused and glanced at a rather dishevelled Ella, who looked incredibly  
  
annoyed by the fact that the slayer was draping herself all over her crush.  
  
Ella turned to look at Will when she felt him staring at her. He smiled and winked, causing the blonde to  
  
turn red and stumble back into the living room. Lizbeth jumped off of Rob, who had also turned a nice  
  
shade of beetroot and she turned to grab Will next. Gracefully the quiet musician slipped out of reach  
  
and wandered into the living room also, with Rob and Lizbeth trailing behind.  
  
'"Well suddenly the manic behaviour makes a whole lotta sense" Rob commented as he glanced at the  
  
bottle of Jack that Ella was cuddling on the sofa. Rob busied himself with getting Lizbeth to sit quietly  
  
while Will attempted to relieve Ella of her bottle. Finally, five minutes later, Ella and Lizbeth were both  
  
sat quietly with pint glasses of water and Will began. He quickly relayed his father's story once more for  
  
the girls and then an hour later when he'd finished he turned to Ella, who seemed, along with Lizbeth, to  
  
have sobered up considerably.  
  
''Ella, there's really only one way to say this. The slayer – Buffy – her name is Buffy Summers. The  
  
slayer is your mom.''  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~  
  
Willow paused as she approached the door to her house.  
  
"You know you don't have to hide from me. We agreed remember. Besides which, I can quite safely  
  
walk home alone. It's not like I haven't been trained in every form of hand to hand combat."  
  
Angel appeared next to her, a guilty smile on his face. "Sorry, I was kind of taking a trip down memory  
  
lane. It's been a while since I've had to be stealth guy, and obviously I could really do with the practice."  
  
Willow turned and smiled at him. ''I wouldn't worry too much, I didn't clock you until two blocks back.''  
  
Angel shuffled a bit, with an embarrassed look on his face, before finally admitting, "I only started  
  
following you two blocks back."  
  
Willow grinned even more before saying, "Do you want to come in? Maybe have a drink?"  
  
Angel stared at her for a moment, waiting for the endless babble that he was sure would follow that  
  
invitation. When it never came his brow creased in confusion but he nodded and followed her into the  
  
house.  
  
While Willow pottered about in the kitchen he asked, "What's with the hair? I mean it really suits you,  
  
you always did look better as a red head, but I thought that you preferred it brown."  
  
"I don't prefer any colour." Willow answered as she handed him a mug. "But I figured it'd cause a lot less  
  
confusion if I went by the same name to all of the people I'm going to be working with. Tomorrow I'm  
  
going to tell the kids the truth. Angel?"  
  
He was staring at the inside of the mug, not really hearing what Willow had said until he heard his name  
  
being repeated. He looked up suddenly. "What...how...why?"  
  
Willow grinned again as she answered, "Pig's blood...from the butcher's...because I figured that you'd  
  
come."  
  
Angel gave her a small smile of thanks, before continuing with his line of questioning.  
  
"So, you've spoken to Buffy then."  
  
Instantly Willow's smile vanished and her eyes turned cold. "Yes."  
  
Having a feeling that he already knew the answer Angel asked, ''and what happened?''  
  
"I told her the deal, she argued for a bit, but eventually she accepted it. Made a whole load of conditions  
  
and then I left. Ella's staying at Lizbeth's tonight so I said I'd tell them tomorrow. That is, if Will hasn't  
  
already told them."  
  
"How could Will know?"  
  
"Oz said that he was going to talk to them – Will and Jenny, his daughter – tonight. I told him to tell as  
  
much as he wanted. So Will's probably over there right now telling Ella, Lizbeth and Rob everything."  
  
"And you're okay with that?"  
  
Willow rubbed her temple before replying, "It's really not my choice. I'm not gonna hide everything like  
  
Giles did. We nearly lost a lot of people because Giles kept secrets from us. I only have one secret that I  
  
don't want them to know and Oz promised not to mention it."  
  
Angel stood up and walked towards the piano. "Spike. That's your secret right?"  
  
Willow glanced up at Angel's back. "He's here you know. In Sunnydale."  
  
Angel spun round and stormed towards her. "You're sure?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Angel stood still and gave an unnecessary sigh. He had never liked Spike. Even when Willow had called  
  
him in LA all those years ago to tell him about the two of them, he'd warned her of course, told her Spike  
  
was a monster, heartless and thoughtless. Eventually he said that he wouldn't come to Sunnydale to  
  
kick his childe's ass but he promised that, when he finally betrayed Willow, Angel would kill him for her.  
  
At the time the happy witch had laughed and called Angel overdramatic. Four weeks later Angel was  
  
running around Sunnydale like a man possessed hoping to find his traitorous childe and stake him into  
  
oblivion. Unfortunately he'd been distracted by a slight case of the apocalypse. When it was over, Spike  
  
could have been anywhere. So Angel had vowed that the day Spike crossed him again would be the  
  
blonde vampire's last.  
  
"Where is he?" Angel growled.  
  
"No." Willow replied. "You don't get to kill him. He's not feeding and you can't just go around killing every  
  
guy who's ever hurt me. Besides which, how come you're so bothered?"  
  
Willow paused before she realized that of course this wasn't really about her, she was just the excuse.  
  
This was because Spike had dared to touch "Buffy. This isn't about me it's about her. Of course it is.  
  
Even after all this time she's still the centre of the world isn't she. Well fine, see if I care. Bollocks to you.  
  
Bollocks to all of it!" Willow yelled the last part and threw her mug at the wall just next to Angel's head.  
  
Instantly he had her in his arms. She struggled against him, hitting his chest with powerless punches as  
  
he began to softly whisper nonsense into her ear. Eventually she calmed down and Angel explained.  
  
"Willow, this has nothing to do with Buffy. It's like I told you earlier I owe you my soul. So when  
  
something hurts you, I want to hurt it. I'm sorry that I upset you. I just hate him for what he did to you.  
  
Hate both of them for treating you that way." Angel sat down on the sofa with Willow still in his arms,  
  
clinging to him, tears running slowly down her cheeks. "I can't do it here Angel. I can't be strong here.  
  
Anywhere else it wouldn't matter, the past would be left as exactly that and I could shut it out, just do my  
  
job and not be so involved. But here...here there are so many memories. I hate it here. I hate being here  
  
without him, it just feels wrong."  
  
Angel looked at her in confusion. "You hate being here without Spike? I don't under..."  
  
''Not Spike you prat...Xander.'' With that Willow collapsed again into floods of tears and Angel finally  
  
understood her pain. She wasn't angry at Spike or Buffy for betraying her. She was angry with Xander  
  
for leaving her. And so Angel sat there, blindly comforting the broken woman in his arms as he searched  
  
desperately for an answer, for some way to help. But deep down he knew what was wrong; she needed  
  
to cry; she needed to be sad. She hadn't stopped fighting; she hadn't stopped moving. She hadn't  
  
stopped to grieve. And it was eating her up. It was killing her. 


	9. AN: A Quick Note

Just a quick note to say that while 'Chances' chapters 5 through 8 are not all stuck in a  
  
big clump like the prior chapters, this will not always be the case.  
  
I have tried to change the chapters I already posted and can't seem to get all of them  
  
working properly because I have no idea how I did it in the first place.  
  
Please be patient with me as I try to work it out. If this message comes up right then  
  
hopefully I've fixed it but I can't promise anything and could people please not e-mail  
  
me to complain, I am aware of the problem. 


	10. AN: No Access

Hey all,  
  
This is a very quick note to say that although I am writing, I am unable to update and don't know when I will. I have just graduated (YAAAAY!!!) so I am no longer allowed to access the internet at Uni (BOOOOO!!!). As soon as I have found a full- time job I will be looking into getting the internet at home but considering I'm either overqualified or under-experienced for all the jobs in my area, this could take a while! Therefore, if you want to e-mail me and ask when I'm updating next, don't bother. I Don't mean that in a harsh way, it is simply that I probably won't receive the e-mail. Thank you to everyone for their support and I'll try to get back online a.s.a.p. For those of you that are unaware, on the bottom of each page there is a drop down Box saying 'submit review', additional options in this box are 'add author to author Alert' Once you register with this site you can then login and see which of your favourite authors have updated. Thank you again for all of your support and wish me luck in the job search so that I may soon return to buggering up the plans of Joss Whedon and Joanne Rowling. Luv Redwitch3 


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